The Vamos Albiceleste thread v2.0 **SPOILERS**

[west501]

Boca deserve to suffer a bit because we've suffered disproportionately lately
of Boca players, the only one we need is not there...
it's true, of River I wouldn't call anyone up

[Arg10]

of Boca players, the only one we need is not there...

v/FUJhkEot23U

:(

Serious question, if Riquelme is able to re-find his form, what are the odds you think we'll see him at the World Cup?

[DSGB]

v/FUJhkEot23U

:(

Serious question, if Riquelme is able to re-find his form, what are the odds you think we'll see him at the World Cup?

0. He seems to take his "códigos" very seriously.

[west501]

another guy that takes his codigos very seriously is Bianchi, so even though he's been sacked as Boca's manager I doubt we'll see him anywhere near la selecc10n any time soon

[Arg10]

another guy that takes his codigos very seriously is Bianchi, so even though he's been sacked as Boca's manager I doubt we'll see him anywhere near la selecc10n any time soon

Sadly:(.

Not sure how many here were aware but Argentina(or as I liked to call them, Argentina's Q side) took on Costa Rica yesterday. We won the match 3-2 and here's what Diego had to say after the match.

Costa Rica se parecía a Alemania -Diego Maradona
http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2010/01/27/seleccion/02128099.html

I'm seriously lost for words.:eek:

[west501]

if Costa Rica looks like Germany, then Germany will look like Brazil in 1970 :p
Mexico will look like Spain, USA will look like England, Honduras will look like Portugal, and most importantly Nigeria will look like Cameroon in 1990 :mad:

[msi2]

Sadly:(.

Not sure how many here were aware but Argentina(or as I liked to call them, Argentina's Q side) took on Costa Rica yesterday. We won the match 3-2 and here's what Diego had to say after the match.



I'm seriously lost for words.:eek:


He, apparently, said that in relation to the fact that most players are still in pre-season and were relly rough compared to the costarican players who were lively.

[Arg10]

Anyone else hear the rumors that Grondona wants Riquelme/is pushing for Riquelme to get back on the team? Heard it on a few sites already.

Oh and Diego has officially called up over 100 players.

[west501]

there were major problems with Diego's call up midweek as the need for two revisions* once again raised major questions of his fitness for the position
rumors are flying about Diego, Grondona, an ultimatum, Riquelme, Bilardo but I don't pay much attention because I would be surprised if he goes down for this after all this time

*1) he calls up four Estudiantes players who have a Libertadores tie at the same time 2) he calls up el flaco Pereyra who has yet to recover from surgery...

[msi2]

there were major problems with Diego's call up midweek as the need for two revisions* once again raised major questions of his fitness for the position
rumors are flying about Diego, Grondona, an ultimatum, Riquelme, Bilardo but I don't pay much attention because I would be surprised if he goes down for this after all this time

*1) he calls up four Estudiantes players who have a Libertadores tie at the same time 2) he calls up el flaco Pereyra who has yet to recover from surgery...

Seems his techincal staff doesnt help him one bit...

[west501]

los 23 de west

Arqueros: Carrizo, Romero, Ustari
Defensores: Demichelis, G.Milito, Zanetti, Pareja, Clemente, Samuel, Heinze
Mediocampistas: Mascherano, Riquelme, Aimar, Di Maria, Verón, Cambiasso, Pastore
Delanteros: Messi, Saviola, Tévez, Higuaín, Lisandro, Agüero

who did I forget :o

[deviant]

los 23 de west

Arqueros: Carrizo, Romero, Ustari
Defensores: Demichelis, G.Milito, Zanetti, Pareja, Clemente, Samuel, Heinze
Mediocampistas: Mascherano, Riquelme, Aimar, Di Maria, Verón, Cambiasso, Pastore
Delanteros: Messi, Saviola, Tévez, Higuaín, Lisandro, Agüero

who did I forget :o
Lucho IMO and instead of Saviola...Milito

[west501]

I'd say Monzon, Zabaleta, Banega, and Milito deserve a shot..but keep in mind they will be competing with the likes of Palermo, Gago, Battaglia, Cata Diaz, Schiavi and the usual suspects :o:mad:

[Arg10]

I'd say Monzon, Zabaleta, Banega, and Milito deserve a shot..but keep in mind they will be competing with the likes of Palermo, Gago, Battaglia, Cata Diaz, Schiavi and the usual suspects :o:mad:

To be fair, I don't think Diaz will be on the team. Hasn't been called up in a while. But Palermo, Battaglia, Schiavi, Dominguez...:mad:

I'd likely stick Burdisso in for Pareja since he's versatile and Banega instead of Veron. I'd like to include Milito in there somewhere too.

[threervana]

Based on Diego's 102 selections and his obvious peferences, I hope/guess the following 23 could be on the final list that is supposed to be announced in March(?):

Arqueros: Romero, Andujar,Carrizo(?!)
Defensores: Demichelis, Otamendi, Heinze, Angeleri(?!), Ansaldi(??), Clemente(??), Samuel (??)
Mediocampistas: Mascherano, Bolatti, Verón, Jonas, Di Maria, Banega(??), Aimar (??)
Delanteros: Messi, Tévez, Higuaín, Agüero, Milito (??)

I don't know how Diego will treat Angeleri when he returns. And I'm not sure whether Carrizo, Samuel, Banega, Aimar, Ansaldi, Clemente and Milito will make it cos they have to face those famous usual suspects:P In addition, another issue is how many forwards Diego will take? Guess he won't leave Lavezzi in Napoli in June.

[Raioneru]

huh riquelme is back in the team?

[west501]

nop, only rumours Grondona is trying to force a reunion

[deviant]

If Riquelme was Mexican we would win the World Cup :p

[Raioneru]

I heard that he does want to be in the team? because of some family related issue with his brother being the ex boyfriend of maradonna daughter? lol at the gossip

__

I dont know about you guys, but riquelme being a playmaker (one of the last a la zidane...)
with or without him make a damn good difference.
he should be in this team!

[Arg10]

I heard that he does want to be in the team? because of some family related issue with his brother being the ex boyfriend of maradonna daughter? lol at the gossip

__

I dont know about you guys, but riquelme being a playmaker (one of the last a la zidane...)
with or without him make a damn good difference.
he should be in this team!

Everyone wants Riquelme in the team, even Diego. The problem is that Maradona is too stubborn to admit it. In his latest press conference, Diego pretty much shut the door on Riquelme returning with the team. Sweet, we'll have Veron being the playmaker at the World Cup!:eek::mad::(

If Riquelme was Mexican we would win the World Cup :p

Nah, we'll just have Maxi score another golazo against you guys like in the World Cup. Or Messi like in the Copa America. :p

[threervana]

Samuel Made IT!!!!!

[west501]

Samuel Made IT!!!!!

so did Palermo :(

[Arg10]

so did Palermo :(

Palermo made it the second he scored that goal against Peru.

It also looks like Banega is being taken into consideration and Lady Gago is dropped.:)

[west501]

jajaja Lady Gago :p

Queen Diego came out hard on Valdano in the press last week because he said Valdano didn't stick up for the Argentine players of Real Madrid, running out Gago the same way he did Heinze.
I think Valdano did the right thing to put professionalism over partisanship, and while I understand where Diego is coming from, I disagree with his declarations that Valdano is anti-Argentine.

[Arg10]

List versus Alemania.

Goalkeepers:
Mariano ANDUJAR
Sergio ROMERO

Defenders:
Walter SAMUEL
Nicolás BURDISSO
Martín DEMICHELIS
Gabriel HEINZE
Clemente RODRIGUEZ
Nicolás OTAMENDI

Midfielders:
Javier MASCHERANO
Mario BOLATTI
Javier PASTORE
Jonas GUTIERREZ
Angel DI MARIA
Jesús DATOLO
Juan Sebastián VERON

Forwards:
Lionel MESSI
Gonzalo HIGUAIN
Sergio AGÜERO
Diego MILITO
Carlos TEVEZ

No Banega, no Cambiasso, no Zanetti, no Aimar. Samuel's in along with Burdisso and Pastore.

[west501]

is Pablito injured?? otherwise I don't know where Diego pretends to go without an enganche unless he plans on starting Pastore...
we need a right back and have two of the top players in the world in Zabaleta and Zanetti
we also have great promising left backs, centre backs, midfielders in all positions, as well as strikers that can embarrass any nation in the world
I'm looking forward to seeing what our next coach can do!

[chelsea_fan]

Jonas GUTIERREZ

i agree with most selected, but this selection is baffling. :confused:
perotti, piatti, l.lopez are worth a call.

[batig0al]

The greek press went crazy after the call of DATOLO who is on loan in Olympiacos. Is there any real chance for him to make the WC ? From what I've seen of him, surely there must be better players arround!

[chelsea_fan]

i seen datolo play today against bordeaux, the guy is terrible. :confused: ofcourse hes an ex-boca player, explains the selection.

aimar was fantastic for benfica today against hertha berlin

[west501]

i seen datolo play today against bordeaux, the guy is terrible. :confused: ofcourse hes an ex-boca player, explains the selection.

aimar was fantastic for benfica today against hertha berlin


honestly with the players we have, this should be the easiest job in the world
the only hard thing is creating a group from the astros we have...
here it comes

v/WWaLxFIVX1s

[threervana]

Aimar was injuried a couple of months ago and underperformed after he recovered. But now he is getting his form back.

[deviant]

Why am I the only one who likes Lucho?

[west501]

no, but you gotta draw the line somewhere?

[Arg10]

http://www.bz-berlin.de/multimedia/archive/00193/Maradona1_1931066.jpg

http://img.abendzeitung.de/incl/bs/images/13102_126744828592.jpg

:o:D

Possible line-up against Germany.

Andujar
Burdisso/Otamendi, Demichelis, Samuel, Heinze
Jonas Gutierrez, Mascherano, Veron, Di Maria
Messi, Higuain

[batig0al]

Datolo was injured so he won't be in the national team. Anyone got his place ?

[west501]

http://www.bz-berlin.de/multimedia/archive/00193/Maradona1_1931066.jpg

http://img.abendzeitung.de/incl/bs/images/13102_126744828592.jpg

:o:D

Possible line-up against Germany.

Andujar
Burdisso/Otamendi, Demichelis, Samuel, Heinze
Jonas Gutierrez, Mascherano, Veron, Di Maria
Messi, Higuain

those pictures are priceless :o
Diego and his technical staff will be to 2010 what Carlitos was to 2006 :D

and after all that talk of returning Heinze to his natural position..4 centrales??
the inclusion of Jonas is unforgivable as usual but he must add something
you could say Otamendi needs time, but I think he needs more than 3 months
he better not be part of the 80%...
excited to see Pastore

[sebastian11ca]

Cambiaso is playing like a mad man cmon he deserves a call

[chelsea_fan]

lisandro lopez

[fcb_sandy05]

From the highlights of the Germany game, it looks Maradona plans to play four central defenders at the back with two incredibly limited defensive midfielders essentially leaving the entire emphasis of linking attack and defense at the feet of Veron. :confused:

Man, I know teams are keen to win the World cup but with just about every National team lining up like this, I fear this might be a very dull WC.

[west501]

you're right, Brazil, France, Germany, England, Italy, Argentina are all lining up like this because of insecurity
but you know how it is..countries with the exception of Chile, Spain, and Uruguay will play defensively against all of us so we'll be drawn out

[NUFC2007]

Jonas Gutierrez is a very very good player. He does so much for the team, and the way he runs at players and past them scares defenders.

Check out these two nice goals. The second one you have to download(http://www.mediafire.com/?qbzzcydm2l2), and it is a goal Maradona would have been proud of.

v/H65jI8gtfJ0

http://www.mediafire.com/?qbzzcydm2l2

[Arg10]

So, umm, Messi.:o:eek::D

West, your post in the Barcelona match thread made me think. Imagine this Messi under Pekerman in 2006 or Bielsa in 2002 or Passarella in 1998.:o

[west501]

it's not just the amount of goals but the quality :eek:
I actually wonder what it is because if you think about it, Messi is scoring the vast majority of Barca's goals at this point and the pressure is immense
so I/Diego/Argentina just hope he repeats this at the world cup :rolleyes:
I figure if he has 5 goals and 5 assists like Diego did en el 86, he will lift the cup and close one of the greatest years in the history of the sport
VAMOS TODAVIA :D

[chelsea_fan]

anyone seeing Pastore past few matches, .....hes been outstanding , top class performances...

[west501]

I have not, but I really like that player and named him in westinho's 23
I will try to watch more Palermo matches..I think he's destined for a move soon, particularly if he plays in sudafrica

[chelsea_fan]

Pastore , Burdisso, Higuain, all were brilliant over the weekend, Higuain had a great week, he can't stop scoring, good news for the Albiceleste.

[batig0al]

Gago has also started in the two last games of Madrid and he did pretty good both defensively and offensively.

[fcb_sandy05]

I just realized that in every major European league, there is an Argentinian in the top three of the goalscoring charts. Strangely, I don't think there are any Brazilians in that category.

[west501]

is Jonas one of the leading scorers in the english second division? :rolleyes:

I just know my karma is going down because of this, but add Diego's dog to the list of people that unjustly attack him

Pele
fans
press
English people alive in 1986
Italian tax collectors
perra de D10S (http://www.canchallena.com/1248934-maradona-fue-intervenido-y-sera-dado-de-alta-en-las-proximas-horas)

[fcb_sandy05]

is Jonas one of the leading scorers in the english second division? :rolleyes:

I just know my karma is going down because of this, but add Diego's dog to the list of people that unjustly attack him

Pele
fans
press
English people alive in 1986
Italian tax collectors
perra de D10S (http://www.canchallena.com/1248934-maradona-fue-intervenido-y-sera-dado-de-alta-en-las-proximas-horas)
Haha. Nice list man. What is the general feeling towards Maradona as a coach and the country's chances at the WC in Argentina?

[west501]

the press is merciless on Diego, but there are fans who will never leave his side
I used to think it was just them who blamed Messi, but it is a greater section of the country as evidenced by recent articles and comments while watching matches
(volvete a España/go back to Spain)
I have elevated the issue to AFA, who lost ideas and hired this madman against our best wishes to win the world cup
a lot of people are with me on that, as AFAs problems extend past the national team into the politico/criminal realm

[msi2]

Milito scored again. He's mister one goal a game.
I wonder how the others performed? :confused:

I watched large part of Barcelona Arsenal and until Ibra's second goal and Messi put an NT-like performance tonight... lazy, uninterested, bleh... dont want. He cant afford to perform like in the WC, or else he's going to take a lot of shit.

[chelsea_fan]

aimar, and di maria, got penalties today against liverpool, and the paraguyan cardozo converted both. I hope they destroy liverpool next week.,., COME on Di maria .. insua and mascherano were crap for lliverpool... insua fouled aimar in the box, he shouldve been sent off.

[fcb_sandy05]

aimar, and di maria, got penalties today against liverpool, and the paraguyan cardozo converted both. I hope they destroy liverpool next week.,., COME on Di maria .. insua and mascherano were crap for lliverpool... insua fouled aimar in the box, he shouldve been sent off.

Di Maria was excellent today and you could still see there is some room for improvement which is a good thing at his age. I thought Aimar faded a bit in the second half. Was he carrying an injury?

Cardozo should have had 4 goals in this match. Di Maria kept setting him up but his heading/finishing was poor. He's got a great left foot, a decent leap, good technique and really is a pretty scary player. His form for the NT hasn't been good, I think, but if he plays at the WC I he might cause those Italians some problems if Zamora v Juventus is anything to go by.

[chelsea_fan]

aimar was carrying a knock, he had some good runs, he put in a good shift, Di maria was fantastic, he even goes back to help defend, iam hoping di maria will unleash his speed on the counter attack and punish liverpool in anfield next week... :D

iam guessin Di Maria, will end up in Inter milan next season, IF mourinho stays,
maybe it would be a good fit. with fellow argentines there.

[fcb_sandy05]

aimar was carrying a knock, he had some good runs, he put in a good shift, Di maria was fantastic, he even goes back to help defend, iam hoping di maria will unleash his speed on the counter attack and punish liverpool in anfield next week... :D

iam guessin Di Maria, will end up in Inter milan next season, IF mourinho stays,
maybe it would be a good fit. with fellow argentines there.

Well the funny thing is that Di Maria said that he would like to join Chelsea in his first press conference as a Benfica player and since Joe Cole looks set to leave, that is still a possibility.

[chelsea_fan]

aguero and di maria are most welcome at chelsea. but it wouldnt make sense, di maria plays on the left, and malouda, has been our best player this year, who plays on the left, and yuri zhirkov can play left midfield.
i seen di maria play on the right, he has scored a few from that area, as he can cut in and get a shot with his left. but hes more effective operating on the left flank. I dont knoe well see what happens.

i know abromovich will splash the cash this summer, wants to assemble a younger stronger squad for the CL.

and veron played well midweek in the Copa Libertadores, helping Estudiantes beat peruvian side Juan Aurich in peru(2-0) on astro turf, lots of pundits predicted Estudiantes will suffer a humilating defeat in peru, alot was made about the astro turf. but veron controlled the midfield beautifully. Looking good for the WC :)


demichelis , iam not a big fan of his, has made his comeback from his injury, wearing zero like mask, he had a terrible first half against man utd. his fault for the goal to rooney, but he did alrite in the second half. well see how he performs in old trafford next week.

[batig0al]

To Messi's defence, in the last 2-3 games he looks really tired. He's never got rested.

[west501]

he did get rested..for a half

[Arg10]

"Todavía me falta un delantero" -Maradona.

I guess this means Palermo's out?

[DSGB]

"Todavía me falta un delantero" -Maradona.

I guess this means Palermo's out?

Higuaín? Milito? Licha? I don't understand... :confused:

[msi2]

"Todavía me falta un delantero" -Maradona.

I guess this means Palermo's out?


Not really...

Messi, Aguero, Tevez, Higuain, Palermo and...?

[deviant]

Watch Marseille's match today Lucho was OUTFUCKINGSTANDING

[west501]

when are the lists due?

[Arg10]

when are the lists due?

Normally it comes out in May, so I would say early/mid May.

[west501]

now Martin is infighting with Riquelme, my thoughts at this point is to keep them both out of the squad for being unprofessional

[west501]

44 days remain before the start of the world cup.....and Ortega returns to the squad after 7 years (http://www.canchallena.com/1258760-ortega-vuelve-a-la-seleccion)????

:confused:

Ortega, who I will remind you, plays sometimes for River when he is not crashing his car and relapsing into alcoholism
what next, he going to call el loco Houseman?

[batig0al]

Ariel Ortega? Really ? WOW!

[west501]

the one and only
mean spirited joke porque el 10 lo convoca al Burrito?......porque la chupa! :o:D:mad:

[threervana]

I think it's a "goodbye to NT" match for Ortega...

[threervana]

Normally it comes out in May, so I would say early/mid May.

30 squad list comes out on May 11.

[west501]

I think it's a "goodbye to NT" match for Ortega...

at least he has the class to admit he doesn't expect to go to south africa while Palermo beats on his chest and asks to go

[Arg10]

at least he has the class to admit he doesn't expect to go to south africa while Palermo beats on his chest and asks to go

True. Though(in my opinion), I really think Palermo is starting to lose his spot in the squad.

[west501]

I don`t know...he scored again last night :mad:

[Arg10]

I don`t know...he scored again last night :mad:

Diego seemed pretty excited at seeing Palermo score against Haiti's C team. At this point, Lisandro will miss out and Palermo will get in(going by last night's match that is).

[west501]

my one hope is that we find some form of cohesion in the midfield, be it an association between starters or a sub that grows into a starring role
for 2010 we need a Maxi, an unsung unexpected hero
imo it is Diego`s role to take 23 players out of whom that can happen..Palermo is unfortunate because imo Lisandro or Lavezzi stand a better chance of being useful

[Arg10]

We're gonna need a "Maxi", I agree. He helped out so much in attack. He finished with the same amount of goals as Crespo and scored some real important ones as well(not to say Crespo didn't). Maxi just kind of exploded and had his coming out party at the World Cup.

I see Di Maria as kind of being our X factor. Off the bench, maybe Pastore could help out(assuming he makes the final list) and maybe even Banega, but even at that, I can't see them becoming our Maxi, instead, I see it being Di Maria.

Looking at the midfield starters(save for any injuries and/or suspensions), it won't be Veron. Not Mascherano and Gutierrez is a workhorse, but he won't provide us with goals.

[west501]

could be cambiasso

[chelsea_fan]

i think mauro boselli is overlooked. prefer him over palermo :mad:

[west501]

i think mauro boselli is overlooked. prefer him over palermo :mad:

agree, but really we have one player based in argentina to take, and it's veron (because it's not roman)
forget palermo, we are not playing ghana, jamaica, or haiti's c teams and certainly none of our opponents in june finished last place in their qualification zone (peru)!
that martin is given thought for the a-team is a crime with no name

[threervana]

But Martin is confirmed by Diego today. Congrats...

I will take him to SA simply for his goal against Peru cos we won't discuss the squad now without that goal. But I will at most give him 15 minutes in rubbish time in the WC if I was the coach :)

[west501]

I will at most give him 15 minutes in rubbish time in the WC if I was the coach :)

give Grondona a call, he will consider you :eek:

[threervana]

give Grondona a call, he will consider you :eek:

haha~I will:D

[christ0pher1]

I posted thsi in the mediaroom, but I figure it'd be appreciated here as well :)

v/V32OKZ7mtc4

disfruten!

[west501]

thanks, mate..TyC really hit it with this one, it's a sensation
....but I have a scene to add
'the son and staff of former coaches accuse their successors of conspiracy!!!' :rolleyes:
it would be funnier if it wasn't true :mad:

edit: por d10s, this is a mess! and of course I can't stop looking at the news on the day the squad is put out, but I am very saddened by this crisis of leadership and just want to get on with this..que la chupen todos!

[west501]

la lista (tenes que ser hijo de..)

Arqueros
Sergio Romero
Mariano Andújar
Diego Pozo

Defensores
Nicolás Otamendi
Martín Demichelis
Walter Samuel
Gabriel Heinze
Nicolás Burdisso
Juan Insaurralde
Clemente Rodríguez
Fabricio Coloccini
Ariel Garcé

Mediocampistas
Jonás Gutiérrez
Javier Mascherano
Juan Sebastián Veron
Ángel Di María
Javier Pastore
José Sosa
Mario Bolatti
Juan Mercier
Maximiliano Rodríguez
Jesús Dátolo
Sebastián Blanco

Delanteros
Lionel Messi
Gonzalo Higuaín
Carlos Tevez
Sergio Agüero
Diego Milito
Martín Palermo
Ezequiel Lavezzi

sorely disappointed by this :(
who do we leave off of this list?
who does Diego leave off this list?
who is our next coach? :eek:

[chelsea_fan]

another catastrophe, lost opportunity to win the world cup.
maradona let argentina down many times, 1994 he decided to drug up and we lost him, or else we could have won the world cup.

WTF is wrong with AFA they are a bunch of cowards. Zanetti shut down messi the best player in the world in the CL semis.

anyways everyone is frustrated , its not maradona its the ppl that hired him are retarded even more.

he is a disgrace to argentina. LOOOOOl datolo too lool. that guy is absolute shit. the midfield has big issues......fukc no more comments from me......gutted
cambiasso and zanetti are absolute warriors battling for three trophies in europe.


Zanetti --- Milito --- Angeleri

---Cambiasso --- Banega ---

Piatti---- - Aimar - ----Perotti

Boselli ---- Maxi Lopez

subs: palacio, zarate, fazio, rivas, izco

[threervana]

You got urs...Let's see which squad is stronger!...lol

Ustari
Ansaldi-Fazio-Garay-Zanetti
Cambiasso-Gago
Lucho-Aimar
Saviola-Lisandro

[ketcchyshubby]

another catastrophe, lost opportunity to win the world cup.
maradona let argentina down many times, 1994 he decided to drug up and we lost him, or else we could have won the world cup.

WTF is wrong with AFA they are a bunch of cowards. Zanetti shut down messi the best player in the world in the CL semis.

anyways everyone is frustrated , its not maradona its the ppl that hired him are retarded even more.

he is a disgrace to argentina. LOOOOOl datolo too lool. that guy is absolute shit. the midfield has big issues......fukc no more comments from me......gutted
cambiasso and zanetti are absolute warriors battling for three trophies in europe.


Zanetti --- Milito --- Angeleri

---Cambiasso --- Banega ---

Piatti---- - Aimar - ----Perotti

Boselli ---- Maxi Lopez

subs: palacio, zarate, fazio, rivas, izco



I think Maradona is making it quite clear that he doesn't really wanna play with a 3 CB's formation, right? And even if Maradona wasn't the coach, I don't think anyone that understand a bit about football would play with such an offensive team in a WC...


I've just watched a few parts of an interview Maradona just gave today with one of the most important (and hated lol) sports journalists in Argentina and he said he's willing to play with 4 central backs, he said he doesn't need right back or left backs who will progressively help attacking, he said he has Di Maria and Jonas for that matter, and they're pretty good at it if you ask me, much better than Piatti or Perotti (LOL).

Then he said he wants Veron to be "his Xavi" lol, to control the team ball possesion and stuff, and then he talked about Messi, and he said he learned from Ronaldinho to play always in the same position (Dinho always played on the left, Messi on the right) but now he's gradually trying to change that and making him play behind the striker.

From those of your list I would have probably have called Aimar, Zarate and Zanetti, the rest just not deserve it. I mean Izco, what the fuck? Milito? Who's slower than Van Buyten and Koller put together? No, thanks.

Cambiasso is a good player, but I see him a little old now and he gets dribbled very easily most of the time and we already have a much better DM. (:


I think Diego knows what he's doing.

My team:


Angeleri - Demi - Samuel - Zanetti

Mascherano ---- Veron

Jonas ---- ----- ---- Di Maria

Messi -----

----- Milito


It's all crappy ):

[chelsea_fan]

naa dont take the lineup i made up seriously, its just those players that arent in the squad, it shows what big depth argentina has. ya some of them would never make it,

anyways, some of the selections maradona made is baffling. there is no need for me to go into who, i think plenty of ppl already vented their frustrations.

though i guess this is just 30 players, 7 have to be cut, ..... we'll see who he leaves out. iam hoping these players get cut ;p . i know maxi probably not, not a big fan, lucho, aimar, would have been more suitable , even pablo piatti , who is a very dangerous player, just watch almeria vs real madrid, and see what he did against the galacticos!
7 i would cut:
Ariel Garcé, Juan Insaurralde, Juan Mercier, Maximiliano Rodríguez, Datolo, Palermo, blanco

ketcchyshubby from your lineup i would drop JoNAS and put in pastore ! that kid is fantastic,

veron is no xavi, and mascherano having a crappy season at loserpool....cambiasso was an absolute gem against barca, i think he is a very clever player that argentina needed, inter is in the CL finals for a reason.

[ketcchyshubby]

naa dont take the lineup i made up seriously, its just those players that arent in the squad, it shows what big depth argentina has. ya some of them would never make it,

anyways, some of the selections maradona made is baffling. there is no need for me to go into who, i think plenty of ppl already vented their frustrations.

though i guess this is just 30 players, 7 have to be cut, ..... we'll see who he leaves out. iam hoping these players get cut ;p . i know maxi probably not, not a big fan, lucho, aimar, would have been more suitable , even pablo piatti , who is a very dangerous player, just watch almeria vs real madrid, and see what he did against the galacticos!
7 i would cut:
Ariel Garcé, Juan Insaurralde, Juan Mercier, Maximiliano Rodríguez, Datolo, Palermo, blanco

ketcchyshubby from your lineup i would drop JoNAS and put in pastore ! that kid is fantastic,

veron is no xavi, and mascherano having a crappy season at loserpool....cambiasso was an absolute gem against barca, i think he is a very clever player that argentina needed, inter is in the CL finals for a reason.


Cambiasso is a great player, and I love how he plays and how clever he is sometimes, but I still think Mascherano is more appropriate, even thought he's not having a great season as you say.

Veron is no Xavi, that's for sure, it was kind of a joke by Diego, he just said he wants him to control the pace of the game, be his Xavi-like midfielder, and I think Veron can do that, sadly he will need a mechanical ventilator at the 80th minute every match (lol).

I don't agree about taking out Jonas, first of all, Pastore plays behind the striker, Jonas is a RM and helps A LOT in defense, (he practically made a fool out of Lahm for 90 minutes against Germany) he's great, but if Maradona opted for an attacking midfielder behind Messi and Higuain then I wouldn't mind Pastore, I know him, and I've seen a lot of matches from him at Palermo.


Ariel Garcé, Juan Insaurralde, Juan Mercier and Blanco play in the Argentinian League so if they make it for the WC it will be a big surprise for them and they probably won't play much. So no worries there.

Rodriguez was always kind off conservative, he's a RM but never really seen him playing as a RM, he tends to go for the middle a lot, he's slow at times, but I still like him coz he's always in the box when he's needed and always scores, kind off like a striker, so yeah, I wouldn't prefer him over Jonas but I wouldn't let him out either.

[west501]

there are two ways to look at this

1) and I/you/world press subscribe to this, is that Diego burned through all of his star players and faced with an inability to work well with them is taking his boys in a glorious example of his failure as a tactician and inspiration to what would otherwise have been a formidable squad

2) Diego wants his starters to be obvious and is taking a starting team and a practise team, not wanting to leave stars he won't play anyway on the bench

little use for Zanetti and Cambiasso as subs for players that are clearly worse, but will start nonetheless..it creates tension before, during, and after a match
it will be an interesting experiment in the creation of a group in that the starters now bear the responsibility, much like he did in 86 and 90..with every world cup since essentially being a repeat of 82
ultimately my complaints over players not taken are essentially equal to my complaints that they're not starting, but I feel justified in worrying over our lack of dept on the bench (outside of Messi's 4 understudies)

[ketcchyshubby]

Just cut the crap dude. You hate Maradona coz he sniffed coke, he's a fat asshole sometimes, but he almost beat Spain (we had a loooot of chances) and totally outplayed Germany, the guy understands something, just because he didn't call up two oldies, it's not the end of the world.

[threervana]

Good points, 501. I am a bit worried about the depth on the bench as well.

BtW, he(Diego) almost beat Spain????

Though I feel that unpredictable Diego understands something and has some tricky game plans in his mind.

[Raioneru]

Just cut the crap dude. You hate Maradona coz he sniffed coke, he's a fat asshole sometimes, but he almost beat Spain (we had a loooot of chances) and totally outplayed Germany, the guy understands something, just because he didn't call up two oldies, it's not the end of the world.

if you were french you would have loved Domenech ^^ :o

[ketcchyshubby]

Domenech is just embarassing.

And yes, we had a lot of chances against Spain, of course our defence sucked, but I think that changed.

[west501]

Just cut the crap dude. You hate Maradona coz he sniffed coke, he's a fat asshole sometimes, but he almost beat Spain (we had a loooot of chances) and totally outplayed Germany, the guy understands something, just because he didn't call up two oldies, it's not the end of the world.

like I say I am not worried about the omissions because they would not have started anyway, but imo you need depth in the squad
I don't hate Diego, I have a que la chupen t-shirt :p

[chelsea_fan]

we were beaten by catalunya in a friendly, ;p

goal.com had a funny headline, saying maradona wasn't INTER-isted ;p
just hoping diego milito doesnt get dropped after the cut on june 1st.

anyways, i believe we have a friendly against Canada left????? may 24??
supposedly there was a friendly against iisraell but it got cancelled.

[roy4hire]

to all: cambiaso is a joke, great against barcelona, thats because they defended with 10 in one half of the field, just look at the first goal in the 1st leg, maxwell left him for dead,
zanetti please look at the blooper against equador (pass to backhill of maxi) and against bolivia (try's to dribble out and gives a penaty) against brazil my god. well done diego on this one and for bringing back samuel.

garce has to be there, he play's as a central defender, right back (much better then altamendi, with the ball on he's feet) and also at misfield as he payed as 5. garce played under bielsa 2 games. this is the best move maradona made.

i just wish banega and ustari (goalkeeper) were there.

out of this list maxi please he's f**ked and palermo is a joke, don't give me the peru goal he is to old and slow, if he goes i think diego milito will lose he's place.

my only worry are the refs.

[ketcchyshubby]

If he chooses Palermo over Milito I'll probably stop watching Argentina's matches.

[roy4hire]

If he chooses Palermo over Milito I'll probably stop watching Argentina's matches.

don't do that, but if he did that there is no explanation in the world maradona could give for the reason he did it.

[akd]

to all: cambiaso is a joke, great against barcelona, thats because they defended with 10 in one half of the field, just look at the first goal in the 1st leg, maxwell left him for dead,
zanetti please look at the blooper against equador (pass to backhill of maxi) and against bolivia (try's to dribble out and gives a penaty) against brazil my god. well done diego on this one and for bringing back samuel.

garce has to be there, he play's as a central defender, right back (much better then altamendi, with the ball on he's feet) and also at misfield as he payed as 5. garce played under bielsa 2 games. this is the best move maradona made.

i just wish banega and ustari (goalkeeper) were there.

out of this list maxi please he's f**ked and palermo is a joke, don't give me the peru goal he is to old and slow, if he goes i think diego milito will lose he's place.

my only worry are the refs.


Please don't say that Garce has to be there haha He only had a good game against HAITI...

If we're going to blame Zanetti for a mistake that caused a goal against Ecuador, then shouldn't we also blame Mascherano for a stupid mistake that cost us a goal (and jeopardized our qualification for that matter) against Peru?

[west501]

even though I think I know the answer I wonder if Micho will be given the freedom to go forward with the absence of wing backs
every team will play us defensively so we need some kind of flexibility in this seemingly rigid metegol style formation

turn

Romero
Otamendi-Micho-Samuel-Heinze
Jonas-Veron-Masche-Di Maria
Messi-Higuain

into

Romero
Otamendi-Micho-Samuel
Masche-Heinze
Jonas-Veron
Messi
Higuain-Di Maria

we do have flexibility to let up a defender on the left or centre if Jonas plays his part and tracks back defensively
we can also use him to flood the right with Messi and Veron, or use those two to flood the left without exposing ourselves defensively

the chemistry or lack thereof in the midfield will be the most important
every team will stand up to disrupt us, and for the most part, they've been pretty successful
I'm hoping for the best, but also hoping Diego doesn't continue to do everything the way he has been

[roy4hire]

Please don't say that Garce has to be there haha He only had a good game against HAITI...

If we're going to blame Zanetti for a mistake that caused a goal against Ecuador, then shouldn't we also blame Mascherano for a stupid mistake that cost us a goal (and jeopardized our qualification for that matter) against Peru?

get over zanetti he is not maradona/messi, he is 36 years old, and not one but many mistakes you forgot bolivia, what i was trying to say is that out of that 30 list garce has to be there, he is better then oltamandi as right back and pushing foward. he will be there.

if we really want to complain, let's complain about zabaleta being left out not zanetti, great person but as a player nothing to cry over i would agree he should have been in the last word cup but not this one.

[akd]

get over zanetti he is not maradona/messi, he is 36 years old, and not one but many mistakes you forgot bolivia, what i was trying to say is that out of that 30 list garce has to be there, he is better then oltamandi as right back and pushing foward. he will be there.

if we really want to complain, let's complain about zabaleta being left out not zanetti, great person but as a player nothing to cry over i would agree he should have been in the last word cup but not this one.

I think its stupid that you only look at Zanetti's errors when clearly the whole team was plagued of errors throughout the qualifiers. Tevez's stupid ejections (one which cost us the game against Colombia), Aguero playing like crap throughout, Messi playing like crap throughout, Heinze being the usual utter shit shit...yet you point out our best right-back who is about to play a CL Final (won Copa Italia and Scudetto). The guy that starts for possibly the best team in the world ATM. Or are you going to tell me that the Argentinean league is better than the Italian league? Palermo is 36 years old as well, don't you think it is unfair to call him up as well? And you still didn't respond my statement about Masche.

How many times have you watched Garce? Do you watch the argentinean league? I watched him throughout (even when he was at River) he was never anything special.

[Arg10]

Final list that's just about confirmed.

Goalkeepers:
Sergio ROMERO
Mariano ANDUJAR
Diego POZO

Defenders:
Nicolas BURDISSO
Clemente RODRIGUEZ
Martin DEMICHELIS
Ariel GARCE
Gabriel HEINZE
Nicolas OTAMENDI
Walter SAMUEL

Midfielders:
Jonas GUTIERREZ
Javier MASCHERANO
Juan Sebastian VERON
Angel DI MARIA
Mario BOLATTI
Maxi RODRIGUEZ
Javier PASTORE

Strikers:
Lionel MESSI
Gonzalo HIGUAIN
Carlos TEVEZ
Diego MILITO
Sergio AGUERO
Martin PALERMO

The seven players cut are:
Sebastian BLANCO
Fabricio COLOCCINI
Jesus DATOLO
Juan Manuel INSAURRALDE
Ezekiel LAVEZZI
Juan MERCIER
Jose SOSA

[chelsea_fan]

well i guess no real surprises i suppose.
though wish lavezzi instead of palermo, but i guess by now everyone know palermo was going.

happy to see pastore going, i was reading rumour that he'd be cut. :D

argentina vs canada may 24, friendly

iam assuming same formation , same lineup as against germany.

[Whoah10115]

Maradona ranks with Domenech. If you think he knows what he's doing tu estas loco.

[west501]

I think Lavezzi could have been incredibly useful
Palermo should not get out of his warmups for the seven matches
it is such an embarrassment to have him be named, infuriating
I'm also sad to see Sosa cut

[Mr. Boy]

Hey guys. :)

I read in another forum that before the World Cup qualifer vs Uruguay, Zanetti told the team to "forget what Maradona said, this is what we're going to do...", and that's why Maradona left him out. :D Y'all know anything about that?

[west501]

Hey guys. :)

I read in another forum that before the World Cup qualifer vs Uruguay, Zanetti told the team to "forget what Maradona said, this is what we're going to do...", and that's why Maradona left him out. :D Y'all know anything about that?



that's highly doubtful because he was not called up against Uruguay

[Mr. Boy]

Oh, well sorry, my mistake. Good luck, you'll need it.

[west501]

the rumour highlights the difficulty of professional players playing with an amateur trainer
I wouldn't rule anything out, but I think it's more likely he wasn't offering enough leadership during adverse times
I was thinking the other day of how disappointed I've been with Masche as the captain as well and wonder if any of you think the arm band fits loosely on him

[akd]

the rumour highlights the difficulty of professional players playing with an amateur trainer
I wouldn't rule anything out, but I think it's more likely he wasn't offering enough leadership during adverse times
I was thinking the other day of how disappointed I've been with Masche as the captain as well and wonder if any of you think the arm band fits loosely on him

I can imagine Maradona saying to the players during halftime: "Vamos muchamos, pongan huevo carajo" then walking away...only to come back 5 min. later and repeat the same thing. haha:p

[Whoah10115]

the rumour highlights the difficulty of professional players playing with an amateur trainer
I wouldn't rule anything out, but I think it's more likely he wasn't offering enough leadership during adverse times
I was thinking the other day of how disappointed I've been with Masche as the captain as well and wonder if any of you think the arm band fits loosely on him



I said that from the moment it was rumored. What player in football today is more of a captain than Javier Zanetti? Not a single one even close. Zanetti should have been the captain in the last two tournaments and now this one.

There is nothing about Mascherano, other than being a hardman, that suggests anything close to captaincy. Not even the glimpse of it in ten years, much less now, at 25.

[fcb_sandy05]

the rumour highlights the difficulty of professional players playing with an amateur trainer
I wouldn't rule anything out, but I think it's more likely he wasn't offering enough leadership during adverse times
I was thinking the other day of how disappointed I've been with Masche as the captain as well and wonder if any of you think the arm band fits loosely on him

"I don't do much stuff in my free time, that's the truth. What kills me about living in Liverpool is that there are only two Argentinians here with me, Emiliano Insúa and Maxi Rodríguez. Insua and I live in a private neighbourhood. He lives in one tower and I live in the other. There are 15 metres between us and we used to look at each other through the window. Sometimes [Pablo] Zabaleta comes from Manchester but there is no way Carlos Tevez comes here. If I want to see him, I have to go to his place and knock on his door. He doesn't like to leave his home. So during the winter, during those four or five months, I have to stay at home all day with my family. My wife doesn't speak a word of English, so she depends 100% on me. I live here with them. That's my world, that's my life" (http://bit.ly/JYxOX)

Speaking of Mascherano, this quote cracked me up. He makes it seem like he and Insua are prisoners in Liverpool, occasionally peering out of their cell block windows to garner strength from each other.

[chelsea_fan]

^ DAMN, lol, sounds like a prison, can't blame robinho now 4 not wanting to come back to the premiership ... ;p

mascherano, should play in la liga, or in inter, he would find many mates there ;p

its hard to imagine mascherano captaining argentina to the finals, and lifting the trophy lol....only way, if he is suspended and samuel takes over the armband for the finals ;p

[west501]

I suppose you have to consider he quality of life and culture shock Latin American players have to deal with when going abroad
argentines say the Spanish are cold...imagine the English!

[fcb_sandy05]

I suppose you have to consider he quality of life and culture shock Latin American players have to deal with when going abroad
argentines say the Spanish are cold...imagine the English!

I can understand that but surely there are more than a few Argentines faffing around Liverpool. Anyway, I just find it really funny that the two of them were staring at each other from their houses.

[roy4hire]

Speaking of Mascherano, this quote cracked me up. He makes it seem like he and Insua are prisoners in Liverpool, occasionally peering out of their cell block windows to garner strength from each other.

That quote IS the biggest BS, i hard that interview on argentine radio and the only thruth was about his wife, the rest if made up crap.

about zanetti being captain, thank you.... that was the best lougth i had in a long time, thanks again and keep the jokes coming, i can't wait for the next one.

cheers.

let's talk after the WC.

[akd]

Maradona y LA CONCHA DE TU MADRE por no haber llevado al PUPI y a Cambiasso...forro HDP!!!!:mad:

[chelsea_fan]

iam guessing d.militio wont feature against canada :D
and maradona was having doubts about this guy.........

one of the best inform clinical strikers on the planet!! make it a quadruple at the WC!!

[msi2]

Milito will be contender for the golden ball, he was key to Inter winning everything this year. He deserves it more than Messi imo. Unfortunately for him, there is a WC and our DT had to be Maradona... Who knows though, miracles can happen.

[Whoah10115]

Milito was fantastic but he wasn't anywhere near the best striker in the world this season and not top 10. He had a fabulous year tho and plays on a great team that just won a treble. But he still isn't Argentina's best striker.

[batig0al]

If Maradona behaves like a real coach he'll put Milito-Higuain up front and Messi close to mildfield to see more of the ball cause that's the reason he underperforms with the NT imo, he plays as striker, mildfield of Argentina plain sucks so he never gets the ball.

Attack there are many good players, with the proper decisions it will work. Defence on the other hand, I think it's gonna be weak no matter what.

[west501]

apparently today Diego will try a formation with three attackers and Jonas as right back
I'd expect it to be

Jonas-Micho-Samuel-Heinze
Veron-Masche(c)-Di Maria
Messi-Higuain-Tevez

of course I'd say that looks great, if we had Zanetti as right back :eek:
but I'm less worried about the names at this point than I am the actual functioning of the team
I too would like to see Milito in the front line, but replacing Tevez and having el Pipita play second striker

[Arg10]

apparently today Diego will try a formation with three attackers and Jonas as right back
I'd expect it to be

Jonas-Micho-Samuel-Heinze
Veron-Masche(c)-Di Maria
Messi-Higuain-Tevez

of course I'd say that looks great, if we had Zanetti as right back :eek:
but I'm less worried about the names at this point than I am the actual functioning of the team
I too would like to see Milito in the front line, but replacing Tevez and having el Pipita play second striker

Demichelis, Samuel and Milito will not take part in the match. Veron is likely a no as well due to fatigue. This is the line-up Diego used in training a few days ago and the rumoured line-up.

Jonas-Otamendi-Burdisso-Heinze
Maxi-Mascherano-Di Maria
Messi-Tevez-Higuain

The actual positioning(Tevez in the middle, Higuain on the left) is just the way the names appeared in the article I read. It could be Higuain in the middle and Tevez on the left or something. I would like to see Pastore in there instead of Maxi, give him the chance to be the playmaker from the beginning of the match.

[west501]

I would like to see Pastore in there instead of Maxi, give him the chance to be the playmaker from the beginning of the match.

looks like you got your wish, mate
but he's in for Messi :p

[west501]

anyone have a picture of GARCE TRAE ALFAJORES?
it was a banner at the bicentennial match vs Canadá

[Arg10]

anyone have a picture of GARCE TRAE ALFAJORES?
it was a banner at the bicentennial match vs Canadá

http://i49.tinypic.com/8tuo.jpg

http://i49.tinypic.com/s1kkg7.png

http://i49.tinypic.com/14uiaz7.jpg

[west501]

hmm I'm looking for a new sig image
how about

_______________
http://i49.tinypic.com/s1kkg7.png
y el autografo de Messi
Vamos Argentina 2010
_______________
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/17/article-1221183-0286BD23000005DC-905_468x286.jpg
Calling on another favour
Vamos Argentina 2010
_______________
http://www.remerascopadas.com.ar/disenos/109-remeras-diego-maradona-que-la-chupen-350.jpg
Con perdon de las damas
Vamos Argentina 2010

_______________

[Arg10]

I'd probably go with the Garce one. As for Messi's autograph, not sure if you heard this or not, but before the list of 30 was released, Garce said he had bought a World Cup package to go to South Africa and watch the matches. So I guess he was planning on getting Messi's autograph!

[west501]

jaaaaa, that's even better than the Maradona flashback/dream that Garce lifted the cup

edit: I'm going with the following, going to change on Saturday, exactly 4 years after the below quote :cool:

______________

[suggest images please]

messi is the kind of player that can decide a match in one play
he's in a class of his own and in a few years I fully expect he'll be the world's top player
[29 May 2006] (http://www.fbtz.com/forum/showpost.php?p=415771&postcount=3)

[Arg10]

http://i50.tinypic.com/1zea2b8.jpg

http://i47.tinypic.com/2vinhg1.jpg

http://i48.tinypic.com/24l4ww7.jpg

http://i46.tinypic.com/2lx7ddv.jpg

Out of those four, I would probably go with the one where he's beating the Peruvian players.

[west501]

sig change!
a couple of years ago today I said what I'd felt since seeing Messi debut in the 2005 fifa youth world cup
I know I've been extremely negative about the side and lament we haven't been able to build a better side around him
but ok
it's time to just go out there and win

vamos Messi vamos Argentina

[akd]

Este pais es una JODA!!!!

Interesting read about the Barrabravas who accompanied the NT

http://www.canchallena.com/1269872-una-peligrosa-convivencia

Along with the players and members of AFA, 22 barrabravas accompanied the NT in their flight to South Africa; as well as various members of the PFA (Argentinean Police) to keep an eye on the barras.

Can someone explain the logic in this??? I've heard that this was Nestor Kirchner's gift to the barrabravas for participating at his political rallies (including the recent acts of violence at the National Book Fair)

I guess, in order to go to the WC, you have to be corrupt and have a criminal record. Is there any other country in the world were this happens??? How can the players accept this imposition?? Coudn't we have given the opportunity to young impoverished students who are top of their class an opportunity to go to the WC as a reward to their efforts?

[roy4hire]

Este pais es una JODA!!!!

Interesting read about the Barrabravas who accompanied the NT

http://www.canchallena.com/1269872-una-peligrosa-convivencia

Along with the players and members of AFA, 22 barrabravas accompanied the NT in their flight to South Africa; as well as various members of the PFA (Argentinean Police) to keep an eye on the barras.

Can someone explain the logic in this??? I've heard that this was Nestor Kirchner's gift to the barrabravas for participating at his political rallies (including the recent acts of violence at the National Book Fair)

I guess, in order to go to the WC, you have to be corrupt and have a criminal record. Is there any other country in the world were this happens??? How can the players accept this imposition?? Coudn't we have given the opportunity to young impoverished students who are top of their class an opportunity to go to the WC as a reward to their efforts?

I'm with you, it's a joke, but the police is not there for the barras they are the by regulation by fifa for the national team, every country has to bring their own police ( i think 6 ).

about the barras, this are the most criminal garbage, and are going to make us all look bad, next week another 200 are set to leave, and that doesn't include the river-boca-independient barras which are in conflict with this one which are the old estudiantes and boca barras. god help us.

[west501]

that's so amazing that I don't believe it, but years of things like this make me know it's true

[roy4hire]

here's an artilce on clarin, it's in spanish.

"Acá hay preocupación. En realidad, la alerta máxima se encendió anteayer, cuando la impunidad quedó a la vista de todo el mundo. "¿Era necesario mandar a los barras con el seleccionado, en el mismo avión?". La pregunta se la hizo un dirigente muy allegado al equipo de Maradona; una pregunta que, por ahora, no tiene una respuesta concreta. Mucho menos, una justificación.

Rápidamente, unas horas después de que los primeros 22 barras argentinos pisaran suelo sudafricano, la AFA, en su sitio web, intentó desligarse de cualquier tipo de especulaciones.

"La AFA informa de manera oficial que sólo es responsable del viaje de los miembros de su delegación oficial. Ninguna persona, grupo, o contingente que pudiera coincidir con pasajeros del vuelo N 227 de la empresa South African Airways, tienen una relación directa, indirecta o circunstancial con la Asociación del Fútbol Argentino" .

La realidad, sin embargo, entrega puntos en común que no pasan inadvertidos, como, por ejemplo, que Ariel Pugliese, alías El Gusano , un reconocido barra de Nueva Chicago que pertenece a la fracción de Los Perales, el año pasado fue guardaespaldas de Lionel Messi en Argentina. Paralelamente, cuentan que en los últimos días antes de dejar el país, hubo varios contactos entre los barras que ya están acá (¿en las afueras de Pretoria? ¿se quedaron en Johannesburgo?) y miembros del cuerpo técnico. ¿De qué habrán hablado? En el avión, dicen, más de uno de los integrantes de la delegación estaba incómodo por la presencia de la "barra oficial". Y hasta hubo un episodio que generó tensión cuando un par de barras de Boca insistieron en fotografiarse con dos viejos conocidos: Martín Palermo y Clemente Rodríguez. No hubo fotos y sí una advertencia dura del comisario de abordo...

El aeropuerto de Johannesburgo fue el lugar en el que se los vio por última vez a los barras. Carlos Sersale di Cerisano, el embajador argentino en Sudáfrica, le confirmó a Clarín que "no hubo ningún deportado ni nada de eso. Tuve contacto permanente con la policía local y la información que me dieron es que no hubo ningún tipo de problemas". El diplomático, que ayer a la tarde se fue a Soweto para ver la final del Súper 14 de rugby entre los Blue Bulls y los Stormers, también habló de lo que puede pasar: "La Policía de acá está en todas partes, atenta. Seguramente se están tomando los recaudos necesarios para que no suceda nada ni con los hinchas argentinos, ni con los hinchas de otros países".

Precisamente, la preocupación principal de la Policía pasa por los posibles enfrentamientos que pudieran haber entre la "barra oficial" y los 250 barras de diferentes clubes (32 pertenecen al fútbol del ascenso y 11 de Primera) que llegarán el 7 de junio al mediodía.

Es sabido que la HUA (Hinchadas Unidas Argentinas) no se lleva nada bien con el otro bando integrado por el grupo de Pugliese, "los chicos" de Marcelo Aravena, los de Laferrere, los de Defensa y Justicia y los de Estudiantes. Es curioso el caso de Aravena, el capo de la barra de Lomas, fracción de la hinchada de Boca. Hasta aquí llegó, enviada por él, gente de su grupo y viejos rivales de la hinchada, cuando el líder era José Barrita, alias el Abuelo .

El Cuervo de Ballester y el Chueco de la Boca, también enemigos en el pasado, hicieron una tregua. Para una persona que conoce la interna, "juntos son una bomba de tiempo". No son pocos los que recuerdan el día que se balearon en la puerta del hospital Argerich.

La Selección argentina llegó a la cita mundialista. Y también llegó la alerta máxima."

[chelsea_fan]

ice ice cream come get your icecream, is this true: looooooool :p
World Cup 2010: Argentina Boss Diego Maradona Demands Luxury Toilets In South Africa (http://www.goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2010/05/24/1940007/world-cup-2010-argentina-boss-diego-maradona-demands-luxury)

[Mr. Boy]

Why haven't argentina played any more friendlies since the Canada game? :confused:

[west501]

we're resting

[west501]

we practised the other day with
romero
micho-muro-gringo
Jonas-verón-masche-dimaria
messi-pipita-carlitos

while I think it's good to consider carlitos I do think we could use an extra midfielder more..pastore is the only one at hand...

[Arg10]

Against Nigeria, I'd be willing to go with that formation. Gutierrez will defend when he has to and attack when has too as he'll play both as a defender and attacker. I see Messi being given a free role. He'll probably start on the right beside the two strikers, but I think as the match goes on, he'll likely drift behind the two. Either him or Tevez, but I think Messi will be the one given the free role.

[west501]

note the difference between our formation with canada

romero
jonas-micho-muro-heinze
maxi-pastore-masche(c)-dimaria
pipita-carlitos

the Nigerians of any team we face, can do the most damage to our defence in terms of speed, so I view this attack minded change as accelerated by a game or two
I think the first change of formation should come already qualified against Greece

edit:
that said Jonas has more to offer in defence than Otamendi, who should be nowhere near the squad, imo

[Arg10]

Gutierrez does offer more than Otamendi at defending and he's not even a right back.

I think Maxi will likely get some minutes, before the Greece match. I don't think we'll keep playing with Gutierrez as our right back and right midfielder for both games. Chances are we'll likely see Gutierrez at right back and Maxi as right midfielder against Korea (or maybe even during the Nigeria match) with Tevez or Higuain getting subbed off to play more of a 4-4-2. Assuming we have the lead, Diego might want to rest one of our strikers, so he'll bring Maxi in to play more conservative. Maybe start with the 3-4-3 for both games, but sometime during the match he'll bring in Maxi to make it a 4-4-2.

Pastore will probably come in for Veron during the second half.

[ketcchyshubby]

Maradona was smart to actually just play one match against Canada instead of infinite pre-world cup friendlies, so players wouldn't get injured, yes, you can get injured while training but it's not that likely to happen.

He was also "smart" enough to actually ask FIFA if they can stay in Pretoria until 30 minutes before the match (they should be in Johannesburg at least one day before the match) but since it's just 30km they asked if they could stay in Pretoria, they prolly like it there very much there. :D


Also, a nice video for you guys to watch: http://www.canchallena.com/1273043-risas-y-clima-distendido-la-formula-de-la-argentina-a-la-espera-del-debut-en-el-mundial

Looks like they are having fun.

[chelsea_fan]

^ haha i was about to post that...argentina firing squad, loooool....i dont think any balls hit diego lol.......its good to have a relax fun atmosphere ... :D

i guess same starting eleven against canada. will start against the Nigerians.

[May261999]

Argentina team might have 3 strikers (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5269140/ce/us/diego-maradona-appearing-go-3-strikers-argentina?cc=5901&ver=us)
PRETORIA, South Africa -- Diego Maradona seems to have settled on starting strikers Carlos Tevez, Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain for the team's World Cup opener against Nigeria on Saturday.

:eek:

[Arg10]

Yeah, it looks like we'll be playing Tevez, Higuain and Messi against Nigeria. Chances are though, either Tevez and/or Messi will get a free role to play behind the two strikers. So I'm guessing we'll see Tevez play behind Higuain and Messi or Messi play behind Tevez and Higuain.

We still have Aguero and Milito (as well as Palermo) on the bench.

[May261999]

Yeah, it looks like we'll be playing Tevez, Higuain and Messi against Nigeria. Chances are though, either Tevez and/or Messi will get a free role to play behind the two strikers. So I'm guessing we'll see Tevez play behind Higuain and Messi or Messi play behind Tevez and Higuain.

Just guessing here - considering Messi's creativity and Tevez' workrate, wouldn't it limit both of them to have to end up playing as part of a 2-headed strikeforce up top, and thus maybe that free role behind the 2 will be rotated between them? On paper, it certainly has the makings of being an entertaining outing.

[chelsea_fan]

our strength is the strike force, ofcourse playing three upfront is a good tactic, considering we dont have any natural full backs.

iam thinking about the substitutes , i would guess Aguero -> Tevez, Militio -> Higuain.

i wonder would it would be like playing militio and higuain upfront together. with messi on the right flank, and di maria on the left,

anyways, wat u fellas reckon against Nigeria.

my call would be 2-1. i hope iam right :D ...nigeria has no creativity wat so ever, though they have plenty of speed, typical african side. though they are fairly organized under lagerback. too much quality and quantity in our side. yes , vamos albiceleste......!!! less than a day away till the world cup!

[ketcchyshubby]

I am kinda concerned about how good we will play with three defenders (or even 4) and three strikers. They looked really tight against Germany, but three defenders, I don't know, I know it's not like they will defend just with the CBs but still, africans are really fast, some of them have good dribbling, if we would have played 4-4-2 I wouldn't have been so worried, but oh well, two days and I'll have no more doubts.

[batig0al]

Imo Argentina's problem ain't the strikers, it's the mildfield. Messi is playing way too forward and without a strong mildfield he is useless. Aside from that the defence also doesn't convince.

[chelsea_fan]

good overall performance, just messi was unlucky, we need to be more sharp killing team's off.

Veron & Di Maria, had a terrible game, well to be fair to Di Maria, he really didnt receive the ball that often, Veron too many astray passes, anyways, the rest put in a good solid shift, could have scored more , and little bit lucky not to have conceded, when UCHE missed.

Interesting how Tevez dropped back to Central Midfield after Veron came off, and Jonas switched to left wing, after Maxi came on for Di Maria.

we need to step it up a notch against south Korea, they are very quick tricky team to play against.

and Diego was the best dressed ball boy i have ever seen ;p . Vamos Albiceleste !!

[west501]

Good thing for that early goal! I was happy with Messi and unhappy with Jonas. We were unlucky not to have scored a few more but very lucky not to have conceded. So overall the result was fair.

[msi2]

4 more years to wait...


Not too surprising though.

[chauchey]

4 years indeed. What a terrible showing for this last game. Don't proffessional athletes know? You can't give time and space to quality players and play makers! Ugh.

[msi2]

4 years indeed. What a terrible showing for this last game. Don't proffessional athletes know? You can't give time and space to quality players and play makers! Ugh.

To be honest, that showing wasnt very different from what we have seen against Mexico, except germans played very smartly on our (numerous) weaknesses.

EDIT;

What do we do from now?
We keep Diego and his useless callups with the risk of losing one more year?
We get a new coach and start a new cycle? With the first test in 2011 for the Copa America?
I still cant believe how we got schooled in this game, really :mind blown:

[Arg10]

4 years indeed. What a terrible showing for this last game. Don't proffessional athletes know? You can't give time and space to quality players and play makers! Ugh.

The Mexico game was a warning that we couldn't keep playing that way, yet Diego still went with the same formation/players.

Also, glad to see you posting again.:)

What do we do from now?
We keep Diego and his useless callups with the risk of losing one more year?
We get a new coach and start a new cycle? With the first test in 2011 for the Copa America?
I still cant believe how we got schooled in this game, really :mind blown:

His contract runs until the Copa America and as we all know Grondona will not fire him, so unless Diego quits, he's going to be the one making the call-ups. If it were up to me, I say we get rid of him. Not because I don't love the guy because I do, but because he's not a very good coach. Good speaker, good motivator, but not a coach. Question is, who do we bring in?

On a relate subject, who do you think are the players that have played their last match for the National Team? My guesses are: Veron, Palermo, Milito(I just can't see him getting any minutes), possibly Demichelis and Heinze. Maybe Maxi as well, not sure about him though.

[west501]

It's true, the Mexico game was proof that we'd need a good bit of luck to get to the final. I think based on the other bracket that we would have won the final, and that if we'd beaten Germany that we would have been extra motivated against Spain. But in the end, a quarterfinal finish with a very justified and one-sided elimination against a young hard-working German side that is more competent than good seems about right. I'm not surprised or even upset, unlike last time, when we did go home completely cruelly at the hands of a far inferior team, on penalties no less.

The only chance we had in yesterday's match, which was actually close until the second goal, would have been to make the positive midfield substitution at the half. Ultimately my complaints about the distance between the defence and attack in Maradona's side were what did us in, and I think Diego's Argentina will be remembered for being devoid of a quality midfield. To be dominated by a 3 man midfield with Khedira, Schweinsteiger, and Özil is an embarrassment. We had players on the bench (and watching at home of course) to turn the situation around, but they didn't come on until too late. You might be right about those last games. Otamendi also should have played his last match with the selección (don't care that he's only 22).

Diego will be remembered for not being able to manage the talent we had and for taking us undermanned and unprepared to the world cup. He needs to go because I don't think he can do any better. At 50 he will not learn anything quick enough and will only become more profoundly negative for our chances. I would only hope that through this experience he becomes a more positive observer rather than the pesky negative presence he's been (pre-2006). So I'll say exactly what I said after 2006, do not even consider Diego for the job! Now we know where it leads and unless we are satisfied with becoming the Mexico of the quarterfinals, we should learn to overachieve from the Germans who go much further with much less. We've wasted Messi's first two mundiales, lucky he'll be 26 for the next one. No Brazil in the qualification, let's build a monster to take it from them at home.

Vamos Argentina 2014 :D

[chelsea_fan]

some players want diego to stay on?????
the only player i can think of, is probably ariel garce...

AFA please listen & place Sergio Batista as head coach and leave him for the next 4 years, including Copa America 2011!! :mad:

Diego we all love u, but please out , ur killing us , take over the U-20 team / u23 ...thats where he should have started. anyways too much agony , 4 years are a long wait,,,,, sad for the players who deserved better, ..... :(

[msi2]

Confederation Cup 2005:
Brazil 4 - 1 Argentina

Friendly 2005:
England 3 - 2 Argentina

Friendly 2006 (first Basile's game):
Brazil 3 - 0 Argentina

Friendly 2006 (second Basile's game):
Spain 2 - 1 Argentina (one has to remember teh second-half, we could have down by 5 or 6 goals)

Copa America 2007 final:
Brazil 3 - 0 Argentina

Friendly after Copa America 2007:
Norway 2 - 1 Argentina

Last Basile's game WC2010 in 2008:
Chile 1 - 0 Argentina

WC 2010 in 2009:
Bolivia 6 - 1 Argentina
Ecuador 2 - 0 Argentina
Argentina 1 - 3 Brazil
Paraguay 1 - 0 Argentina

Friendly in 2009:
Spain 2 - 1 Argentina (after the first-half, we can consider ourselves lucky not to be down 4-0)
Last but least
Catalunya 4 - 2 Argentina... with Cruyff speaking a couple of minutes to the players before the game.

And finally,

WC2010 QF:
Argentina 0 - 4 Germany

Conclusion:

While Maradona's ineptness has aggravated our situation, argentinian football is really in crisis for a long time, no doubt about it. The past years we truly horrible, from the results to the football displayed on the pitch.

[west501]

again there is talk of Diego wanting to continue but only if Bilardo goes and Ruggeri comes in, also talk that Martino is lined up as the successor (something I would really want)
of course there is always the person with the 'close personal connection' that claims to be in on the discussions..I've heard it all by now
but enough is enough, time for this joke to end

Maradona needs to go

[Arg10]

There's supposed to be a meeting at the AFA sometime today. I guess we'll find out pretty soon if Diego ends up staying or leaving. But I agree, Diego needs to leave.

[fcb_sandy05]

There's supposed to be a meeting at the AFA sometime today. I guess we'll find out pretty soon if Diego ends up staying or leaving. But I agree, Diego needs to leave.
He was offered a 4 yr renewal but I don't know if he accepted.

[Arg10]

He was offered a 4 yr renewal but I don't know if he accepted.

Just saw that. There's no way he'll say no.

[fcb_sandy05]

Just saw that. There's no way he'll say no.
Yeah. Guess he wasn't kidding about the "and the keep sucking it" part.

[west501]

A lot hinges on the meeting next week. Grondona may attempt to put the kinds of conditions that Diego is unwilling to accept, but those are empty threats because we all remember that Diego was never supposed to be in charge last time anyway, but ultimately ended up threatening to quit and getting all of his 'yes' men to surround him for the tournament. Public sentiment is that he should go with most online and television polls at least 80% against the idea of Diego continuing and there is a general sentiment that the trainer will not survive what would likely be a poor showing at the Copa America we will be hosting in 2011..not to mention struggling through another qualifying campaign and arriving completely unprepared to the next world cup...
This farce needs to end, he must be forced to quit..particularly with Passarella set to go onto the board at AFA.

edit: good piece (http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/deportes/8-149593-2010-07-16.html) in pagina|12 by Pablo Vignone

[Arg10]

This farce needs to end, he must be forced to quit..particularly with Passarella set to go onto the board at AFA.

Well, it's actually going out of the country and to Venezuela! Hugo Chavez said that Diego is flying to Venezuela on Monday or Tuesday. If this is true, the supposed meeting between Maradona and Grondona/AFA was supposed to take place either Monday or Tuesday. And the circus continues...

[west501]

Well, it's actually going out of the country and to Venezuela! Hugo Chavez said that Diego is flying to Venezuela on Monday or Tuesday. If this is true, the supposed meeting between Maradona and Grondona/AFA was supposed to take place either Monday or Tuesday. And the circus continues...

Diego is playing this perfectly. Now AFA say they will wait for Diego, who never answered his phone to set the meeting in the first place, to set the place and time for the negotiation. What is only too clear now is that they don't put conditions, Diego does. The Kirchner's want him to continue and AFA has no power in the negotiations, so the most likely scenario is that Diego will continue with absolutely no (externally imposed) changes to his staff and with the same omnipotent (yet impotent) role.
The farce continues..

edit: How awesome would it be if don Julio just turned around and gave the job to someone else (http://www.misionmundial.com.ar/equipos/argentina/Van-Gaal-tecnico-Seleccion-Argentina_0_301169927.html) while Diego didn't want to meet? Then it would be D10S who would be left begging. But alas, we all know Grondona has no balls to do something like that. Honestly at this point my only hope for us not having Diego is if he just never meets with Grondona..

edit edit:
Wait no, the best thing would be if Diego becomes the next coach of Venezuela!

[Arg10]

Diego is playing this perfectly. Now AFA say they will wait for Diego, who never answered his phone to set the meeting in the first place, to set the place and time for the negotiation. What is only too clear now is that they don't put conditions, Diego does. The Kirchner's want him to continue and AFA has no power in the negotiations, so the most likely scenario is that Diego will continue with absolutely no (externally imposed) changes to his staff and with the same omnipotent (yet impotent) role.
The farce continues..

edit: How awesome would it be if don Julio just turned around and gave the job to someone else (http://www.misionmundial.com.ar/equipos/argentina/Van-Gaal-tecnico-Seleccion-Argentina_0_301169927.html) while Diego didn't want to meet? Then it would be D10S who would be left begging. But alas, we all know Grondona has no balls to do something like that. Honestly at this point my only hope for us not having Diego is if he just never meets with Grondona..

edit edit:
Wait no, the best thing would be if Diego becomes the next coach of Venezuela!

Grondona picking someone else over Diego would never happen. Diego is Grondona's money maker, especially with the Copa America next summer being held in Argentina. There's no way Grondona would let him go.

Diego coaching Venezuela would be amazing. No pressure for him there, they would get some money and best of all, we would be free of Diego! For what it's worth, Martino re-signed with Paraguay until the next Copa America (I've heard some reports saying for the next 4 years and I've heard some reports saying only until Copa America).

[Whoah10115]

This is hilarious. Not for you guys, but in general (no Brazilian hating here).

Argentina...Not picking Zanetti is like not picking Maldini. And it's happened two straight times now...in his prime. That Cambiasso guy, who is the embodiment of the way Argentina play...nah. Bolatti!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ketcchyshubby]

Diego is playing this perfectly. Now AFA say they will wait for Diego, who never answered his phone to set the meeting in the first place, to set the place and time for the negotiation. What is only too clear now is that they don't put conditions, Diego does. The Kirchner's want him to continue and AFA has no power in the negotiations, so the most likely scenario is that Diego will continue with absolutely no (externally imposed) changes to his staff and with the same omnipotent (yet impotent) role.
The farce continues..

edit: How awesome would it be if don Julio just turned around and gave the job to someone else (http://www.misionmundial.com.ar/equipos/argentina/Van-Gaal-tecnico-Seleccion-Argentina_0_301169927.html) while Diego didn't want to meet? Then it would be D10S who would be left begging. But alas, we all know Grondona has no balls to do something like that. Honestly at this point my only hope for us not having Diego is if he just never meets with Grondona..

edit edit:
Wait no, the best thing would be if Diego becomes the next coach of Venezuela!

Even if the whole farce gets fixed magically I'm still wondering who could we pick as our next coach, it should TOTALLY be a foreign coach, imo, I just think argentinian coaches are really overrated, almost every argie coach that tried his luck on Europe failed miserably.


People wants Bianchi, but I think Bianchi is a big lie, Bianchi had an awesome team and won a lot of stuff with Boca, but I don't think it was because Bianchi is such a great coach, maybe I'm wrong though, but seeing he failed miserably in Europe and didn't want to be a coach anymore after seeing Boca had an overal shitty team lately and was in trouble, he decided to hide and decline every offer.


I personally would like Cappa and Russo if we are talking about argie coaches, but Van Gaal said that he wouldn't mind being the coach of Argentina so I guess, why not? I don't think Van Gaal is such a great mind either but all in all european coaches are far more prepared than argie coaches (also, their staff is much better, argies don't even know what a keeper's trainer is).

So yeah, I have very few hopes considering we also had no big promises internationally speaking (maybe only Pastore) and the next WC is in Brasil. :rolleyes:

[west501]

meeting pushed back to next Monday but the press is saying that his continuation is all but agreed at this point, with multiple sources citing the first phone contact between Diego and Julio
it seems his technical staff will not be touched
if this is indeed true this is the worse news we could get, as we may not even make the next world cup with Diego as coach (most of our points for the last qualification were won by Basile's side)
it is sad that after a decade of putting together fantastic sides (1996-2006) that our football falls into another decade of mediocrity..particularly when we now have the player that can lead a fantastic side to win every trophy it competes for
what is the idea behind backing Messi with nothing but a madman on the bench who couldn't coach a junior side?

[Arg10]

meeting pushed back to next Monday but the press is saying that his continuation is all but agreed at this point, with multiple sources citing the first phone contact between Diego and Julio
it seems his technical staff will not be touched
if this is indeed true this is the worse news we could get, as we may not even make the next world cup with Diego as coach (most of our points for the last qualification were won by Basile's side)
it is sad that after a decade of putting together fantastic sides (1996-2006) that our football falls into another decade of mediocrity..particularly when we now have the player that can lead a fantastic side to win every trophy it competes for
what is the idea behind backing Messi with nothing but a madman on the bench who couldn't coach a junior side?

Completely agree, this is the worst news that we can get right now. We can't keep wasting this talented generation like this. First we had Basile, then Maradona and now Maradona again! Messi, Higuain, Di Maria, Banega, Garay, Pastore, Aguero and the rest will all suffer heart breaks and humiliation because of this decision. But even bigger than the previous generations. Hell, aside from 2002, they've already suffered the biggest one since 1974 which is the 4-0 thrashing by Germany. Not to mention the 6-1 humiliation to Bolivia and losing 3-1 to Brazil at home.

Next summer's Copa America is a must win, period. No ifs or buts. Its a must win, end of discussion. Sadly, I think this is part of the reason why Grondona has kept Diego. I said it in the other post, the tournament is in Argentina next summer and with Maradona there it equals big money. You know when we had the Maradona generation? Well we should be well under way with the Messi generation. But it won't happen. Can you imagine more of this circus? Having to go through a FULL set of qualifiers with Diego there? Assuming he makes it past the Copa America and we don't get embarassed there too.

Look at Brazil. Dunga leads them to two titles. The Copa America and the Confederations Cup, never loses to Argentina at senior level (in fact even embarasses us away from home), yet still gets fired after losing 2-1 to the Netherlands. Imagine if Diego wins us two trophies? He'll stay on forever. The Brazilian FA doesn't take crap from that point of view. Win the World Cup or you're out. Us? Get thrashed 4-0 against Germany in the quarter finals and you get rewarded with a 4 year contract.

I feel bad for the players, I really do. Had Messi decided to play for Spain, he would already be considered as a legend in this sport. Euro winner and World Cup winner. With us, his highest achievement has been the Olympics and the U20 World Cup. Not saying I would have wanted him to play for Spain, of course not, but just looking at it from a different perspective. The kid and this set of players have won NOTHING at senior level.

[Whoah10115]

Completely agree, this is the worst news that we can get right now. We can't keep wasting this talented generation like this. First we had Basile, then Maradona and now Maradona again! Messi, Higuain, Di Maria, Banega, Garay, Pastore, Aguero and the rest will all suffer heart breaks and humiliation because of this decision. But even bigger than the previous generations. Hell, aside from 2002, they've already suffered the biggest one since 1974 which is the 4-0 thrashing by Germany. Not to mention the 6-1 humiliation to Bolivia and losing 3-1 to Brazil at home.

Next summer's Copa America is a must win, period. No ifs or buts. Its a must win, end of discussion. Sadly, I think this is part of the reason why Grondona has kept Diego. I said it in the other post, the tournament is in Argentina next summer and with Maradona there it equals big money. You know when we had the Maradona generation? Well we should be well under way with the Messi generation. But it won't happen. Can you imagine more of this circus? Having to go through a FULL set of qualifiers with Diego there? Assuming he makes it past the Copa America and we don't get embarassed there too.

Look at Brazil. Dunga leads them to two titles. The Copa America and the Confederations Cup, never loses to Argentina at senior level (in fact even embarasses us away from home), yet still gets fired after losing 2-1 to the Netherlands. Imagine if Diego wins us two trophies? He'll stay on forever. The Brazilian FA doesn't take crap from that point of view. Win the World Cup or you're out. Us? Get thrashed 4-0 against Germany in the quarter finals and you get rewarded with a 4 year contract.

I feel bad for the players, I really do. Had Messi decided to play for Spain, he would already be considered as a legend in this sport. Euro winner and World Cup winner. With us, his highest achievement has been the Olympics and the U20 World Cup. Not saying I would have wanted him to play for Spain, of course not, but just looking at it from a different perspective. The kid and this set of players have won NOTHING at senior level.



If Messi was Spanish Spain would be us at home in the final 2014, 8-0.




Honestly...I'm just amazed. I noticed at the end of the Germany game Maradona hugged Leo and Leo just did not look interested. I don't think it was even the sadness at that point, but more a distaste for what Maradona had and has done. Considering his age and how he carries himself you would think they'd be paying attention to him. I wish he'd be willing to say something, in this case. The only one likely to say anything is Riquelme and, unfortunately, he's a bitch.

[Arg10]

http://www.ole.com.ar/futbol-internacional/Furia-Monumental_0_303569753.html

Argentina vs. Spain at El Monumental on September 7.

If Messi was Spanish Spain would be us at home in the final 2014, 8-0.

Honestly...I'm just amazed. I noticed at the end of the Germany game Maradona hugged Leo and Leo just did not look interested. I don't think it was even the sadness at that point, but more a distaste for what Maradona had and has done. Considering his age and how he carries himself you would think they'd be paying attention to him. I wish he'd be willing to say something, in this case. The only one likely to say anything is Riquelme and, unfortunately, he's a bitch.

If Messi was Spanish, Spain would have walked through and destroyed every team they played against this past World Cup instead of constantly winning by 1 goal.

In any case, seems Diego has taken the contract. I think the only players that want him to stay on are Bolatti, Palermo and possibly Demichelis. The first two because he brought them to the team and Demichelis because, well, the guy wouldn't crack it under any other coach.

Messi has always been the shy type and if you closely read/listen to what he says (in spanish), he doesn't exactly say he wants Diego to stay on. Same thing with Mascherano. Mascherano (the captain has to say something), if I'm not mistaken didn't even say he wants Maradona to continue. He said "It's not up to me to decide". That right there tells you he doesn't want Diego to continue. Di Maria already spoke about how he was played out of position, Veron's father came out and pretty much trashed Maradona. In short, doesn't seem like many (if any) players want Diego to continue.

[chauchey]

Grondona picking someone else over Diego would never happen. Diego is Grondona's money maker, especially with the Copa America next summer being held in Argentina. There's no way Grondona would let him go.

Diego coaching Venezuela would be amazing. No pressure for him there, they would get some money and best of all, we would be free of Diego! For what it's worth, Martino re-signed with Paraguay until the next Copa America (I've heard some reports saying for the next 4 years and I've heard some reports saying only until Copa America).Well, that would be interesting! Copa in Argentina you say? Should be a good test. If Argentina loose that without being in the finals I think you'll see him sent packing. I hate to say it, but that might be what it takes for us to get a new coach.

What's wrong with Batista? He won us the Olympics and was assistant under the tactically excellent Pekerman...we should give him the shot next.

[ketcchyshubby]

If Messi was Spanish Spain would be us at home in the final 2014, 8-0.




Honestly...I'm just amazed. I noticed at the end of the Germany game Maradona hugged Leo and Leo just did not look interested. I don't think it was even the sadness at that point, but more a distaste for what Maradona had and has done. Considering his age and how he carries himself you would think they'd be paying attention to him. I wish he'd be willing to say something, in this case. The only one likely to say anything is Riquelme and, unfortunately, he's a bitch.


Well, hugs weren't enough, and I think it wasn't the right time for hugging Leo, you know, after your coach gives you free days all the time, doesn't even prepare the team on a quarter final, one says "please, fuck off, I don't need your hugs right now", also you may want to add Leo had a shitload of chances to score (particularly against Nigeria) but he couldn't and that's really sad. He could play on 2014, but he will not be the same imo, I think players with his pace and dribbling are better when they are younger, but maybe I'm wrong.

[ketcchyshubby]

Well, that would be interesting! Copa in Argentina you say? Should be a good test. If Argentina loose that without being in the finals I think you'll see him sent packing. I hate to say it, but that might be what it takes for us to get a new coach.

What's wrong with Batista? He won us the Olympics and was assistant under the tactically excellent Pekerman...we should give him the shot next.

Batista may be a good guy, but he's not a good coach at all.


Maradona might learn something tactically speaking after the humilliation against Germany, and that's a good thing, we have the players, as I said, I'm only impressed by Pastore. I haven't seen either Fazio, Garay or Perotti playing yet, but I guess they aren't as amazing as Pastore.

As I said before, even if Maradona would have quitted, we are failing on World Cups since a long time, even with "good loved coaches", like Pekerman, Bielsa, Pasarella, Basile, they are all just overrated, if we want some change, we need an european coach... Van Gaal, Hiddink, someone who really knows how to make a team like Argentina play.

Us argentinians like to just throw the good players into the pitch and let them do what they know, but we always forget about the defensive aspect of the game and that's why we get pounded all the time by big teams on important matches, because they prepare the game, they study their opponent... on this particular World Cup Maradona just let the players have free days all the fucking time instead of actually doing something to counter Germany's firepower.


Anyways, in short... we won't go far with argie coaches.

[roy4hire]

Batista may be a good guy, but he's not a good coach at all.


Maradona might learn something tactically speaking after the humilliation against Germany, and that's a good thing, we have the players, as I said, I'm only impressed by Pastore. I haven't seen either Fazio, Garay or Perotti playing yet, but I guess they aren't as amazing as Pastore.

As I said before, even if Maradona would have quitted, we are failing on World Cups since a long time, even with "good loved coaches", like Pekerman, Bielsa, Pasarella, Basile, they are all just overrated, if we want some change, we need an european coach... Van Gaal, Hiddink, someone who really knows how to make a team like Argentina play.

Us argentinians like to just throw the good players into the pitch and let them do what they know, but we always forget about the defensive aspect of the game and that's why we get pounded all the time by big teams on important matches, because they prepare the game, they study their opponent... on this particular World Cup Maradona just let the players have free days all the fucking time instead of actually doing something to counter Germany's firepower.


Anyways, in short... we won't go far with argie coaches.

what are you on, Pekerman, Bielsa, Pasarella were all technical coaches, maradona is a lazzzzzzzy fat-ass (they trained 1 time a day, had barbacue 3 times a week + ice cream fries soft drink + free time, this drogado fat retard is a joke of life, i can't stand this fat puto, fuck maradona).. look at martino from paraguay, cuper, bianchi, russo, cappa, so they just put players on the field do they, just look at paraguay against spain, mate you are full of shit.

a european coach with a big head like van gaal would kill us. we don't need a european coach we need someone who want's to work and train the team, and we have pleanty of those. 2006 argentina had a great word cup, we went out on penalties, c'mon even thow i agree that perkeman made mistake, what did van gaal do with holand, cappelo with england ect. no european ever.

[roy4hire]

i hope messi and other players quit like riquelme did.

if maradona is in the bench, i hope we get flogged in the coming friendlies. especially against spain at home.

[west501]

Diego has come out in the press saying that if they impose any conditions or touch his technical staff he will leave
I think this means that he really does not want to continue and that he is giving Grondona a way out of this mess
I am not normally a praying man, but save us don Jul10 :rolleyes:

edit: meeting inconclusive!!! :mad::mad::mad:
don't they realise that they are torturing 40 million people?
what does this mean? Diego's demands were certainly not accepted and there was no satisfactory negotiation and after two hours of meeting both men left without making declarations to the press
that said, they are said to meet tomorrow and at that point someone will budge, more than likely Grondona

I was thinking even before the news, that it would be great if this can be a cathartic moment for the seleccion, like with Spain and Raul, and that with a new coach we can start winning every tournament we compete for :rolleyes:
in all seriousness, I do think we would win the copa America with el Checho Batista, and that Messi can write his name on history in Brazil once Diego is sent back to 86

[Arg10]

Diego looks to be on his way out!:)

[west501]

Diego looks to be on his way out!:)

it ain't over until the fat lady sings
and by the fat lady, I could mean either Diego or Jul10 giving in here ;)
despite all of the buzz on the news networks, online papers, twittersphere, facebook, etc, neither his detractors or supporters have anything to celebrate as the farce continues...
that said I'm touching Diego's technical staff as we speak :p

edit: great graphic by la nacion

http://bucket.ak.lanacion.com.ar/anexos/fotos/38/1240138.jpg

[Arg10]

it ain't over until the fat lady sings
and by the fat lady, I could mean either Diego or Jul10 giving in here ;)
despite all of the buzz on the news networks, online papers, twittersphere, facebook, etc, neither his detractors or supporters have anything to celebrate as the farce continues...
that said I'm touching Diego's technical staff as we speak :p

We should find out Tuesday night, but I think he's gone.

Sabella to replace him? I heard he signed a new contract with Estudiantes last week, but there's a clause in there that says he could leave if the National Team job was offered. I'm guessing it's between him and Batista.

[ketcchyshubby]

Sabella would be a really great replacement. Bianchi will probably say no if he gets called by Grondona so the only one I might want (as far as argie coaches go) is Sabella. Loved what he did with Estudiantes and I loved how he played against Barcelona. Shows he knows his stuff.

[west501]

Whoever it is will have a really great opportunity to start building a project with the Copa America. Unless it's Diego..

edit: Olé are breaking the story that Diego will not continue (http://www.ole.com.ar/seleccion/hora-contando_0_305369563.html)

[Arg10]

It's confirmed now. Diego will not continue. Batista will be the interim manager for the match against Ireland.

[west501]

It's confirmed now. Diego will not continue. Batista will be the interim manager for the match against Ireland.

Amazing! AFA have done one thing right. Now can they do two and hire a trainer who deserves the post?

To answer your question from the other thread, I do not remember Basile being in the running in 2006. I remember the sense of shock at Pekerman's resignation being similar to what we see now. Only then the AFA was not able to see a successor out of the crop of Argentine coaches, but this time, even Pepe Argento looks good.

I can't help but think that this farcical sacking of Maradona was staged to make the trainer go out on his terms. I seriously believe, and this has been discussed in the press (http://www.canchallena.com/1288628), that this is what Diego wanted: to go down fighting, not giving in to his moral principles, no matter how misguided. I can only hope that the positive influence on the team, and there was one outside of his inability to coach, can stay and that he does not return to the post of acerbic armchair critic. Now he knows he can't do a better job than anyone and I hope he leads a quiet and discreet existence. I prefer this to his attempting to coach another side, even if it is Venezuela. It would be sad if he fell out with Chavez, and I daresay telling the Venezuelans to suck it could be dangerous! :p

Ad10s Maradona. I love you like no other footballer in the history of the game, but chau!

[Arg10]

List for Ireland match has been released:

Romero, Sergio
Mariano Andújar

Martin Demichelis
Walter Samuel
Nicolas Burdisso
Gabriel Heinze
Fabricio Coloccini
Pablo Zabaleta
Emiliano Insua

Maximiliano Rodríguez
Javier Mascherano
Ángel Di María
Jonas Gutierrez
Mario Bolatti
Javier Pastore
Fernando Gago
Jesus Dátolo
Ever Banega

Gonzalo Higuain
Carlos Tevez
Sergio Agüero
Messi Lionel
Diego Milito
Ezequiel Lavezzi

Bilardo picked the list.

Amazing! AFA have done one thing right. Now can they do two and hire a trainer who deserves the post?

To answer your question from the other thread, I do not remember Basile being in the running in 2006. I remember the sense of shock at Pekerman's resignation being similar to what we see now. Only then the AFA was not able to see a successor out of the crop of Argentine coaches, but this time, even Pepe Argento looks good.

I can't help but think that this farcical sacking of Maradona was staged to make the trainer go out on his terms. I seriously believe, and this has been discussed in the press (http://www.canchallena.com/1288628), that this is what Diego wanted: to go down fighting, not giving in to his moral principles, no matter how misguided. I can only hope that the positive influence on the team, and there was one outside of his inability to coach, can stay and that he does not return to the post of acerbic armchair critic. Now he knows he can't do a better job than anyone and I hope he leads a quiet and discreet existence. I prefer this to his attempting to coach another side, even if it is Venezuela. It would be sad if he fell out with Chavez, and I daresay telling the Venezuelans to suck it could be dangerous! :p

Ad10s Maradona. I love you like no other footballer in the history of the game, but chau!

The part I bolded, I think the same way. Grondona obviously wasn't going to directly fire him and Diego doesn't like to quit. So now he can say "well, Grondona made restrictions that were just too much. I couldn't coach with the restrictions he had. It's his fault". And Grondona can say "I didn't fire him, he quit".

In the end, Diego is gone and that's all that matters for now. Diego, the greatest player ever. But I'm glad you're no longer the "coach" of this National Team.

[deviant]

I say give Simeone a shot at managing the national team......why not?

[msi2]

Because he is a disaster of a coach imo. Still never forget he was key to River finishing last for the first in history... and he was about to do the same with San Lorenzo before he got sacked.

[ketcchyshubby]

Thanks God.

Anyways, I was wondering, what is Gago good at? Just out of curiosity.

[Whoah10115]

Thanks God.

Anyways, I was wondering, what is Gago good at? Just out of curiosity.


Great tackler, not very physical but tenacious as hell. Good touch and good passer, can pull the strings. Most Madrid fans might hate on him, but that doesn't mean anything. He needs to get out of Madrid tho.

[roy4hire]

[QUOTE=Arg10;1821417]List for Ireland match has been released:

Romero, Sergio
Mariano Andújar

Martin Demichelis
Walter Samuel
Nicolas Burdisso
Gabriel Heinze
Fabricio Coloccini
Pablo Zabaleta
Emiliano Insua

Maximiliano Rodríguez
Javier Mascherano
Ángel Di María
Jonas Gutierrez
Mario Bolatti
Javier Pastore
Fernando Gago
Jesus Dátolo
Ever Banega

Gonzalo Higuain
Carlos Tevez
Sergio Agüero
Messi Lionel
Diego Milito
Ezequiel Lavezzi

Bilardo picked the list.

[QUOTE=Arg10;1821417]

wrong, maradona gave the list of 18 players, the rest were added by grondona/bilardo.

some will be drope, heinze will be one, my opinion.

[west501]

I say give Simeone a shot at managing the national team......why not?

I think Simeone's start to his coaching career coincided with what is the low point of Argentine football's ability to retain talent. He has had one good season and left, coaching four sides in 5 years and alternating great success with great failure.
I don't think he's ready, but I really like him as a coach. He should go to Europe to increase his profile and candidacy for the future.

[Arg10]

Yeah, I would wait on Simeone for several years. Let him learn more, because at the moment, his coaching resume isn't exactly good.

[west501]

Seems Bianchi, who would otherwise be my first choice (and the clear favourite in polls and the press) is not in the running. No surprises there.
Of Russo and Sabella, I think the former has more experience but I like the latter. He was Passarella's assistant and wins my consideration as an admirer of Marcelo Bielsa. I also have no problems with Batista. Whatever they end up hiring will have a lower profile. I can't wait to have a real coach for the first time since Pekerman! That said, we're in for a wait, as Batista is interim coach through the end of the year apparently.

[Arg10]

http://www.mundoalbiceleste.com/Article.aspx?id=1989&title=sowhat-we-are-all-asking-who-is-next

Very good article about some possible candidates (Sabella, Russo, Simeone).

[roy4hire]

Sabella is the new coach of argentina, he will be anounced in the coming weeks. maybe after the friendly.

forget the end of the year, he should take over as soon as possible, we have some big games coming up, spain and brazil to name two. why waste them.

[msi2]

What? Against Brazil? When? :confused:

EDIT:

There we go:

http://www.afa.org.ar/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12245:argentina-brasil-ida-y-vuelta&catid=164:seleccion-mayor&Itemid=66

[west501]

The link does not work for me. When are the friendlies with Brazil?
I would hope we get a new DT before then, as the more the AFA waits the worse it will get. I wouldn't mind if they appoint Sabella, or whoever it may be, to start in 2011 though.

edit: An absolutely scathing piece in La Nacion (http://www.canchallena.com/1289101-el-ciclo-maradona-la-autocritica-futbolistica-que-nadie-hizo). 10 points on why Diego is out. I only translate the bold points and comment on the rest of the paragraph here

1- He never defined a Maradona Style.
The 4-4-2 that he confirmed, practically set in stone, for the debut against Nigeria was changed for a much more offensive formation days before the tournament.
2- In the wcqualifiers he broke with what had worked before he took charge
Carrizo in goal, Zanetti as right back, Gago Masche. Basile was clearly running the team into the ground, but it's so easy to forget we had just come off the gold medal in the olympics with Batista.
3- Maradona and his physio Signorini made a mess in Bolivia
Apparently the coach told his players you defeat the altitude by attacking and dribbling it. LOL
4- He put together an imbalanced list for the world cup, with too many forwards, too many central defenders, no wing backs (besides Clemente) and few midfielders.
I think everyone had a go at that list.
5- Maradona stated he would never re-watch the painful loss with Germany.
And so he'd never coach another match. Makes sense.
6- He fell for the trap of wing backs.
He started out with Papa and Angeleri, what happened? Otamendi was a prime target in our downfall.
7- He also didn't find a way to program the midfield.
This was my main complaint about the team. We were devoid of a well-worked midfield.
8- The group was anemically defeated by the first adversity.
Mex scared us but were ultimately more fearful of us themselves. Germany clearly were not. Remember Maradona's taunt to Schweinsteiger? He who laughs last..
9- Scandal aside (only they know what happened), Maradona left out Riquelme because he said if Roman 'comes to recover the ball from Mascherano' it didn't work for him.
How did Veron play? Where did Messi have to go to get the ball in the last match?
10- There never seemed to be autocriticism, but there was on the other hand the search for enemies.
The game versus Mexico was an alert that we were playing badly. What does Diego do for Germany? Honestly if we had tempered our approach a bit we may well have won, but it wouldn't change my opinion about Maradona as coach. This last point is definitive. Maradona is out because his tenure was always about the result and never about the football. His results were poor, the football was poor, but the only ones who were wrong were his enemies. I like this piece because it puts all of this into perspective, and emotions aside I think the right decision has been made by the AFA.

[roy4hire]

I agree with most of your commets west501.

the game against brazil is in november, the last fifa calander date for friendlies.

also argentina and brazil just sign a deal to play 2 games a year home and away with home base players.

let's hope they sing a coach and don't let all this games go to waste.

ps; why do south america only get 2 spot for the olympics, asia gets 3 1/2 and africa gets 3 1/2, why do they get so many, especially asia?

[Arg10]

http://www.ole.com.ar/seleccion/Grondona-Diego-iban-tiro-piernas_0_309569153.html

Ruggeri stating that Grondona threatened to shoot him and Grondona's daughter said she would stab him with a knife. Here's a highlight of the article.

Así se está manejando el fútbol hoy en día. Decimos que queremos mejorar pero es imposible conseguirlo de esa manera", agregó. "No me vengan con el verso de que todo el Comité elige a los entrenadores, porque cuando eligieron a Maradona lo eligió él. Para rajarlo que dicen que fue el Comité Ejecutivo”. Y cerró: "Hay democracia en el país y no en el fútbol".

[msi2]

http://www.ole.com.ar/seleccion/Grondona-Diego-iban-tiro-piernas_0_309569153.html

Ruggeri stating that Grondona threatened to shoot him and Grondona's daughter said she would stab him with a knife. Here's a highlight of the article.

:o

A shame you cant post only a smiley.

[west501]

:mad:

well, what's all this about Diego apparently still being a candidate :confused:
the farce continues...

[west501]

Batista looks to field Romero; Burdisso, Demichelis, Samuel y Heinze; Mascherano; Messi, Banega, Gago y Di María; Milito o Higuaín (http://www.ole.com.ar/seleccion/Messi-note-feliz_0_314368674.html)

Romero
Burdisso-Demichelis-Samuel-Heinze
Gago-Masche
Messi-Banega-Di Maria
Higuain

While it doesn't look much different on paper, the first order of the day is to repair the midfield Diego destroyed. Everyone railed at our defence but defence starts higher than our defensive line and rests on more than the individuals in it. I still think we need a natural organizer like Aimar or Riquelme in there. Pastore is the only one in this callup so I hope he gets some time.
We also need to get a world class keeper like Carrizo in there. He was tremendous on the weekend and is easily the best keeper from our schools in over 20 years.

[msi2]

Fundamentally, Banega is a defensive midfielder even though he can put some passes between the lines. So we have a line of 4, with 4 CB and 3 defensive MD... Oh the snoozefest!

[Arg10]

Fundamentally, Banega is a defensive midfielder even though he can put some passes between the lines. So we have a line of 4, with 4 CB and 3 defensive MD... Oh the snoozefest!

Pretty much. I don't see the need to play 3 DM's. I say partner Mascherano with Banega and replace Gago with Pastore.

We also need to get a world class keeper like Carrizo in there. He was tremendous on the weekend and is easily the best keeper from our schools in over 20 years.

Sadly, that's really not saying much.

[west501]

Sadly, that's really not saying much.

jaaa, but it is..I see a straight line to Fillol/Gatti, who were connected in turn with the original Carrizo ;)
Juampa is a tremendous talent, one of those keepers who can be a match winner

Fundamentally, Banega is a defensive midfielder even though he can put some passes between the lines. So we have a line of 4, with 4 CB and 3 defensive MD... Oh the snoozefest!

I don't know, I think it's basically a copy of Spain's formation, which is clearly the one to copy right now, and we have the players to do it though I might prefer Cambiasso or Lucho to Gago
Batista clearly wants to control the midfield and he's putting in two very passing players to accompany Masche..with Diego our midfield was completely disjointed
I would pay to see D'Alessandro back in the mix

[west501]

did anyone see the match? poor Irlanda jajajaaa, cursed with refs :eek:

[Arg10]

did anyone see the match? poor Irlanda jajajaaa, cursed with refs :eek:

Yeah, that was an offside goal. Di Maria was offside when Higuain touched the ball.

In any case, what a boring second half. There was no creativity at all once Messi came off. And why the hell did Mascherano, Gago and Banega play the whole game together? Shouldn't one of them come off for Pastore? Though, I have to admit Mascherano and Gago both played great. Banega wasn't bad either. I know it's a friendly match, but that's exactly it. It's the first match after the World Cup, use it to experiment different players and formations. And by that, I don't mean bringing on Coloccini or Gutierrez.

It was sad seeing Heinze being at the end of a Messi through ball in the first half. We really do need some wingsbacks.

I was never sold on Batista and am even less so now.


I would pay to see D'Alessandro back in the mix

Batista was asked about him. He said he likes a playmaker who holds onto the ball more (ala Riquelme) instead of a pass/run/pass it back approach type of player.

[west501]

The second half was dull, but I think Pastore was injured. He would replace Banega, imo. I was not unhappy with our midfield in the first half. We worked the ball* well in tight space as well as with the long ball. I wouldn't mind to see Batista take the reigns and form his own project. He's certainly more tactically saavy than Maradona, though that is not saying much now, is it?

I did become a bit depressed when the announcers started to speak of the age of a lot of players and their declining relevance in terms of the next tournament.
In 2014:
Burdisso, Micho, Maxi, Cambiasso, Lucho, and D'Alessandro will be 33
Aimar will be 34
Milito will be 35 (Gabi will be 33)
Heinze, Riquelme, and Samuel will be 36

Truly the end of a generation that deserved more at the international level. A number of them passed through their prime, in some cases all but unnoticed, due to the stunning and unforgiveable appointments by AFA post Pekerman. 4 lost years. We need to commit to a real coach now!


*did anyone else find not seeing the Jabulani refreshing?

[roy4hire]

i liked the team, but this was maradona's squad, some players in my opinion have made their last apearence.

batista is going to spain to talk to gabi milito, garay and fazio.
also batista has he's favorites and also mation pareja, buonanote, riquelme, ustari and rumors have it that cambiasso is going to get a call up. zabaleta is goint to be the right back, he didn't start this macth for respect to the players that played in the world cup.

the next list (in 10 days) is going to be batista own.

also this players are in pre-season what did all you expect in the 2nd half.

i didn't want batista, but know after hearing messy, he's very happy and want's batista, so why not, it was refreshing not to see the circus on the side line that use to be with that fat enfermo mental maradroga.

[msi2]

The players you have mentioned west501 would have probably better managed if Pekerman had stayed in charge in the first place.

[west501]

The players you have mentioned west501 would have probably better managed if Pekerman had stayed in charge in the first place.

This is true and points out what a terrible mistake it was to have even considered Diego for the post. Veron finally made declarations to the press (http://www.canchallena.com/1293946-veron-diego-queria-que-fuera-el-xabi-de-la-seleccion-y-despues-me-dejo-afuera) that were predictably anti-Diego. My favourite quote was where he said, frankly, that he didn't think it was a World Cup winning group, but that after seeing how Spain handled Germany, that he thought we should have been in the top 4. He called, repeatedly, for a qualified coach. It seems a lot of the players came out with token statements of support for Diego, but that said I think we are beginning to see the birth of a new post-Diego Argentina. Whether it's Batista or not, I think we will have a better team. I think it would be nice if Batista called up Veron to play one last match against the side he should have had the chance to play in the semifinal.

[Arg10]

Looks like Batista will call-up Gabriel Milito, Fazio and Pareja for the match against Spain. Doesn't seem like we've seen the end of Zanetti and Cambiasso with the National Team either.

http://www.ole.com.ar/seleccion/celular-celulea-Batista_0_317968263.html

Also, today marks the 5th year anniversary of Messi's debut with the National Team where he got sent off. Ole has an article on it including some pictures from the match.

http://www.ole.com.ar/seleccion/Paso-lustro-venga-brillo_0_318568207.html

Here's the video:
v/V0xEFEJHxJ8

[deviant]

This is one man I hope to see play for his country again.....


v/5ddmClZXKCA

v/-tFEWpJXtUE

[ketcchyshubby]

This is one man I hope to see play for his country again.....


v/5ddmClZXKCA

v/-tFEWpJXtUE

Beautiful goals, I don't follow much argie football but I think he's in really bad shape now, so please let's not wake up the dead.


To response to west501, Carrizo is utter shit.

[west501]

To response to west501, Carrizo is utter shit.

Carrizo is a cult hero for us, a personality keeper who obviously inspires hatred in supporters of other sides. His failures in Europe were shocking, but I still have faith in his skills as a keeper and his ability to lead from the goal line.

[Arg10]

West, you got your wish. This is the list to face Spain at the Monumental on September 7.

ARQUEROS
Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar - Holanda)
Mariano Andújar (Catania - Italia)
Agustín Marchesín (Lanús - Argentina)

DEFENSORES
Martín Demichelis (Bayern Munich - Alemania)
Walter Samuel (Inter - Italia)
Nicolás Burdisso (Inter - Italia)
Gabriel Heinze (Olimpique de Marsella - Francia)
Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City - Inglaterra)
Gabriel Milito (Barcelona - España)
Javier Zanetti (Inter - Italia)

MEDIOCAMPISTAS
Javier Mascherano (Liverpool - Inglaterra)
Fernando Gago (Real Madrid - España)
Ever Banega (Valencia - España)
Ángel Di María (Real Madrid - España)
Esteban Cambiasso (Inter - Italia)
Mario Bolatti (Fiorentina - Italia)
Andrés D'Alessandro (Inter - Brasil)

DELANTEROS
Gonzalo Higuaín (Real Madrid - España)
Carlos Tevez (Manchester City - Inglaterra)
Sergio Agüero (Atlético Madrid - España)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona - España)
Diego Milito (Inter - Italia)
Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli - Italia)

Zanetti, Cambiasso and Gabriel Milito are back on the team. No Pastore though.

[deviant]

Is Argentina ever going to try and look for a new defense? Might aswell call back Ayala....I dont doubt Zanetti is quality but seriously the pace of the national games is on another level than a serie a game.

[Arg10]

Is Argentina ever going to try and look for a new defense? Might aswell call back Ayala....I dont doubt Zanetti is quality but seriously the pace of the national games is on another level than a serie a game.

We have some pretty good young defenders, but none of them are World class. Garay, Zabaleta (not exactly that young, 25), Fazio, Pareja (see Zabaleta, but 26), Guillermo Burdisso (Nicolas Burdisso's younger brother) and Insua.

Garay's chances at Madrid are fucked because he's currently injured and Mourinho brought in another CB. Zabaleta is doing good with City, but he's slow and fouls alot. However, he can play on the left, on the right and right wing. Fazio is mostly being played as a DM with Sevilla instead of a CB, Pareja just fucked his career by going to Russia, Burdisso is still young but the potential is there and Insua is not getting playing time and is an idiot for not going to Fiorentina.

As for this list, I think Batista just wants to win the match. He has to do well in the remaining friendly matches of 2010. If he does, he'll get to stay on for good. If not, he's gone.

[west501]

West, you got your wish. This is the list to face Spain at the Monumental on September 7.
Andrés D'Alessandro (Inter - Brasil)


he deserved the call, would have liked to see Carrizo, Verón, and Pastore in there
is Javier injured or something? does anyone know?

[chelsea_fan]

^javier pastore??
no he played for Palermo in Europa League and scored.

attacking wise, forwards , attacking mid, argentina has plenty, just defenders are lacking! ....we need to look to the future, demichelis must be dropped, bring back Otamendi, need to give the kid some experience and confidence.

Fazio is a good prospect at CB, though he doesnt get enough playing time, plagued by injuries too, a towering figure, U20 world cup champion. He needs to move to different club, but there is hope as CB Squallaci moved out of Sevilla to Arsenal today, just waiting for medical to pass, hope Fazio gets more playing time and prove to Batista that he deserves a call up next season.

[west501]

that's too bad to hear about Pastore and the non call

Romero
Zabaleta-Demichelis-Milito-Zanetti
Masche-Cambiasso
Messi-D'Alessandro-Di Maria
Higuain

that's a solid looking team and a very similar looking formation to that we saw in the olympics
regarding the defence, I don't think the choices are poor, I think it is difficult to judge keepers, defenders, any individuals really, from their performances in the last 4 years where our team's tactics were about as dry as the atacama
one half with a good form and Messi* was already looking deadly, our midfield was keeping the ball and playing with purpose, but yes we do need better defenders joining the attack
Monzon was a fixture during the olympics, I wonder if he'll get another call now that he's left another shambolic side :rolleyes:


*I think the most important thing is to have a competent coach who can build a formation based on the abilities of his star players, much like the Barcelona team is based around Messi
sure you could argue they're the best team in the world (and hell Spain based mostly on Barca players won the world cup)
but they look twice as weak without Messi in the lineup and Spain were also lacking up front over the summer..man if Messi would have been on Spain...lol

edit: Gago injured (http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/es/1330012668141/noticia/Noticia/Parte_medico_de_Gago_2010-08-25.htm)
bad timing with 4-5 weeks out at the beginning of a season where VdV and Ozil will compete in central midfield..particularly when it looked like Gago had the confidence of the new manager

[msi2]

arg10> what happened to mundoalbicelste?

[Arg10]

arg10> what happened to mundoalbicelste?

Some technical difficulties with the website, msi2. It should be resolved soon enough. I'll let you know when it is.:)

[Arg10]

msi2, website is back up!

Mascherano joins Barcelona. This could end up being a very good thing for us or very bad.

[west501]

Mascherano joins Barcelona. This could end up being a very good thing for us or very bad.

I think Masche must be a starter by mid season and while that can be worrisome, it mightn't be hard. The 'vacas sagradas' era ended with Rijkaard and Javi's rigid defensive nature could work to his advantage in that his presence frees Xavi to move forward and Busquets/Keita can play further up as well.
Javi and Xavi, come on!

[Arg10]

Teams in training:

Romero, Zanetti, Burdisso, G. Milito, Heinze, Mascherano, Banega, D'Alessandro, Messi, D. Milito, Tevez

and

Andujar, Zabaleta, Samuel, Demichelis, Lavezzi, Bolatti, Cambiasso, Di Maria, Aguero, Higuain

Second team is missing a player because of Gago's injury.

[west501]

confirmed lineup (http://www.canchallena.com/1301916) vs España

Sergio Romero; Javier Zanetti, Martín Demichelis, Gabriel Milito y Gabriel Heinze; Ever Banega, Javier Mascherano y Esteban Cambiasso; Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuaín y Carlos Tevez

[west501]

After months of calling his detractors anti-Argentine, among other things, Diego is celebrating his 50th birthday in the only place that is more Argentine than anywhere in Argentina: Napoli (http://www.canchallena.com/1302194-diego-y-un-salon-monumental-para-festejar-sus-50-anos).

:eek::cool::confused::D:rolleyes:

I don't know you about you, but I want to go! In all seriousness, his time at Napoli should have as much to do with his consideration as the greatest player of all-time as any world cup performance. 86 was the icing on the Neopolitan cake. ;)

[Arg10]

http://www.mundoalbiceleste.com/Article.aspx?id=2075&title=batista-to-call-up-pastore-and-nicolas-gaitan-for-japan-friendly

Batista to call-up Pastore and Gaitan for the Japan friendly. Gotta say, it's smart by Batista. In a match against Japan, it'll be good to see some of the younger players get a chance with the team and see how well they do with some of the other players.

[west501]

I'd like to see Heinze phased out, Carrizo phased back in, and D'Alessandro given the start!

[Arg10]

I'd like to see Heinze phased out, Carrizo phased back in, and D'Alessandro given the start!

The list to face Japan next month on October 8.

Goalkeepers:
Sergio ROMERO
Mariano ANDUJAR
Oscar USTARI

Defenders:
Gabriel MILITO
Javier ZANETTI
Walter SAMUEL
Nicolas BURDISSO
Pablo ZABALETA
Martin DEMICHELIS
Gabriel HEINZE

Midfielders:
Angel DI MARIA
Fernando GAGO
Javier MASCHERANO
Esteban CAMBIASSO
Jose SOSA
Mario BOLATTI
Javier PASTORE
Andres D'ALESSANDRO

Forwards:
Gonzalo HIGUAIN
Lionel MESSI
Sergio AGUERO
Diego MILITO
Ezequiel LAVEZZI
Carlos TEVEZ
Nicolas GAITAN

[chelsea_fan]

i dont know what Gago, Sosa, Bolatti, Demichelis, Gaitan, did to merit a call up, Aimar deserves a call up in place of Sosa! Tino Costa, has been in fantastic form for Valencia, there is a reason why they are on top of La Liga. If you saw the CL match Bursaspor vs Valencia, you know what iam talking about.

Guinazu, would have been a good replacement for Banega, instead of Bolatti or Gago!

I have to say Pastore's superb scintillating form forced Batista to call him up, the most in-form player out of the lot.

Banega is injured, so is Messi, but he'll be forced to play in a useless meaningless friendly, AFA , Japanese FA just out to make money.

Batista will fail in Copa next summer by bringing bench warmers, & i thought he's policy was to bring in inform players regardless of their age! Bollocks!

[west501]

I expect Gago to directly replace Banega in the starting lineup, Zabaleta should be tried as left back but probably won't
would be nice to see Pastore or D'Alessandro get the start

and I have the feeling Batista will bring this kind of call up to Copa America next winter ;)

[deviant]

Should be interesting glad to hear Gago is going to play.. cannot wait until Copa AMERICA!!!!!

go with this line up :p if u can recognize it raise your hand

---------------Lux---------------
Sorin----Coloccini---Ayala--Heinze
-----Zanetti------Mascherano----
Lucho------------------D'Alessandro
-----------Kily Gonzalez------------
-------------------------Tevez----

[west501]

that looks like the lineup from the final of 2004..we really gave Brazil a lesson in football in that match, though I forgot what happened in injury time of both halves

[Arg10]

That match still hurts to this day.:(

Zanetti and Aguero will miss the match against Japan.

Argentina/Uruguay want to host 2030 World Cup.
http://www.mundoalbiceleste.com/Article.aspx?id=2089&title=argentina-and-uruguay-to-officially-bid-for-world-cup-2030

[west501]

what happened with Zanetti? I was hoping to see him in the Inter Roma match last weekend
I remember reading he went to the hospital after receiving a hard ball in the chest, is his injury still related to this?

and the double hosting..I'll believe it when I see it...how old will Messi be :rolleyes:

[Arg10]

what happened with Zanetti? I was hoping to see him in the Inter Roma match last weekend
I remember reading he went to the hospital after receiving a hard ball in the chest, is his injury still related to this?

Yeah, it's because of that incident. He's still not 100% and both sets of doctors (AFA's and Inter's) agreed to let him stay in Italy and miss the match.

how old will Messi be :rolleyes:

:(

[west501]

:(

Let's hope Messi's life doesn't devolve to the point where we start seeing videos like this (http://www.marca.com/blogs/fuera-de-juego/2010/10/01/video-maradona-demuestra-que-no-ha.html). :o:(:rolleyes:

[west501]

Pastore is the toast of Italy (http://www.canchallena.com/1311251-en-italia-se-desato-la--pastoremania) and wanted in Spain, Germany, and England (http://www.marca.com/2010/10/05/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1286286691.html).

http://bucket.ak.lanacion.com.ar/anexos/fotos/18/1270618w298.jpg

He should start against Japan.

[Arg10]

Pastore is the toast of Italy (http://www.canchallena.com/1311251-en-italia-se-desato-la--pastoremania) and wanted in Spain, Germany, and England (http://www.marca.com/2010/10/05/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1286286691.html).

http://bucket.ak.lanacion.com.ar/anexos/fotos/18/1270618w298.jpg

He should start against Japan.

Yeah, he's been on fire lately. I really don't want him in Madrid and as much as I love Barcelona, there's Xavi and Fabregas is bound to go back sooner or later. There's no way he'll get picked over those two. I say stay in Italy.

Ole is reporting this as a possible line-up against Japan:

BURDISSO-DEMICHELIS-MILITO-HEINZE
--------MASCHERANO-CAMBIASSO------
--------------D'ALESSANDRO--------------
MESSI----------------------------DI MARIA
--------------------HIGUAIN----------------

[west501]

I wonder about Pastore because in one theory you could say he made a smart move by going to a smaller market side where he still had to wait patiently and earn a deserved spot in the starting 11. But if he'd gone to Milan I daresay he'd have done the same..
The kid has a star quality about him, but he's gotta think his next move through.

[Arg10]

I wonder about Pastore because in one theory you could say he made a smart move by going to a smaller market side where he still had to wait patiently and earn a deserved spot in the starting 11. But if he'd gone to Milan I daresay he'd have done the same..
The kid has a star quality about him, but he's gotta think his next move through.

I think going to Palermo instead of Milan was a smart move. Had he gone to Milan, the pressure would have been on him after his great season with Huracan. But with Palermo, not that there was no pressure, but not as much as there would have been with Milan. Atleast with Palermo he's had a year (now in his second) to get used to the style of the league, adapt himself and all that. If he goes at the end of this season (to Milan), then great. If he stays with Palermo, that's great too. As long as he gets the playing time that he wants and he keeps progressing and does well with the National Team, that's all that matters.

Confirmed line-up to take on Japan:

Sergio ROMERO, Nicolas BURDISSO, Martin DEMICHELIS, Gabriel MILITO, Gabriel HEINZE, Javier MASCHERANO, Esteban CAMBIASSO, Andres D'ALESSANDRO, Lionel MESSI, Diego MILITO and Carlos TEVEZ.